How To Modernize Your Dragon
by PrayerGirl
Summary: HTTYD modern AU. Young Henry (Hiccup) is trying to survive high school and gain his father's approval only problem is he's found a dragon. A real one. Just when things start to look up for him new problems arise and Hiccup is the only who can save his family and friends not to mention the world. My modern version of the movie. Different than you think. You'll love it trust me!
1. Chapter 1

Okay so I know I still have a few stories to write, but I'm getting there. ^^; Anyway, I'm finally uploading this, I've had it done for a while now, but I'm putting this out there because one; in celebration of the new HTTYD movie coming out! I can't freaking wait! And two; I want to see what you guys think of my version of a modern AU for HTTYD. It's my first HTTYD story, but I think I've done a pretty good job. :D Unlike other AU's I tried to really hard to stay with the story, but just make it modern. There's still dragons cause you can't take them out! XD But anyway Please tell me what you guys think. I've been working on this for a while now. I have it prewritten so I'll upload ever week or so. So here we go, the first chapter, which was hard to write!

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**BEEP BEEP BEEP**

Green eyes popped open to see a dark bedroom. The alarm was still going off so he leaned over onto his side and slammed his fist down on the machine stopping it at once.

_My name is Henry Horrendous Haddock the third, but you can just call me Hiccup. Great name I know, it's kind of a long story. My real name was my grandfather's name and my father wanted me to be just like him. My grandfather was a general in the army and everything a red blooded American should be; strong, brave, confident, a born leader. My father inherited all this from him and more and he wanted me to follow in their foot-steps._

_Unfortunately, I didn't._

Hiccup moved the covers off of his body then went get out of bed, but his foot got caught in the blanket and he fell out instead.

_I'm a klutz. Have been ever since I could walk. I've been weak and little my entire life and I can't even lift a couple of bricks over my head. I know how pathetic I am and I'm reminded of this every time I see my father. He always looks at me with this disappointed scowl like someone skipped the meat on his sandwich. _

Hiccup sighed and forced himself to get off the floor and ready for school.

_I've tried everything I can think of to get on his good side, to try and get a congratulatory nod or maybe even a 'good job son', but it's always a shake of the head and the disappointed scowl. My father is a man of tradition and old thinking. You see, believe it or not we have Viking blood. That's what my father wants me to be; a strong, brave Viking. On a side note my uncle, Spike or Spitlout, don't ask, told me once that when my father was a baby he popped an alligator's head clean off its shoulders with his bare hands. Do I believe it… yes I do. Anyway, the Viking thing is also where the wonderful middle name comes from. My father's name is Stoick. I kid you not… it was my grandfather's idea._

Hiccup now dressed and ready, walked down the stairs and out to the garage where his car was waiting for him. So he got in and drove to school.

_It fits him, at least in my opinion, even when he's happy, he hardly ever smiles. In all honesty I think it's because of my mother; Val. She passed away when I was five and ever since then… things just haven't been the same between my father and me, but it's not… that… bad. Oh who am I kidding? My father is a four star general who is never around because of his job, but I also think it's because he just can't handle my failures that always seem to happen. Then again it's alright. I've grown used to my own company. It's somewhat helped my school life._

Pulling into the school parking lot, Hiccup sighed and turned off his engine. Grabbing his backpack and preparing for another day of torture he forced himself to get out and walk into the school.

_This is Berk Academy. Its twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. Apparently we students think better when we're frozen. Among other strange things about us, for some odd reason Berk has had a tradition to give all the students and teachers nicknames. Which kind of explains the name Hiccup. When I first came to this school, I had the hiccups for an entire week and was granted the name Hiccup. It's not the worst name they have, according to Viking tradition; a terrifying name scares away gnomes and trolls even though they don't exist, but I always thought their charming Viking demeanor could do that all on its own. _

Hiccup walked down the halls of the school towards one of his classrooms. "There ya are lad!" _That would be Gordon Belch or Gobber. He is my father's best friend and right hand man. He works for the government as their weapons specialist. He also happens to be one of the best mechanics in the world and the school's mechanic teacher. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little… well littler._ "Where have ya been?"

"Sorry." Hiccup said placing his apron on. "I woke up late this morning. I promise I'll get them finished today."

"See that you do." Gobber told him, "We have a demonstration today and we don't want a repeat of last time!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. His designs always failed or just plain didn't work, but they weren't _that_ bad. Hiccup was an inventor and he tried his best to invent different weapons and devices for his father and the army, but they always found a way of not working at just the wrong moment. Now he was working on repairing some of the weapons that had been used at the testing grounds.

The seventeen year old worked in Gobber's shop for about an hour before the school bell rang for the ten minute mark and that was when Hiccup just happened to look up.

A group of teenagers then appeared all talking to each other as they walked down the hall and Hiccup watched them somewhat enviously.

_They would be the populars. That would be the twins Rebecca and Tristan otherwise known as Ruffnut and Tuffnut for them both being the toughest in the school, not to mention the craziest. Francis or Fishlegs for his tiny legs I'm guessing, at least compared to the rest of his body. Then there's my cousin; Scott or Snotlout and honestly I don't know or care to know how he got that name. Then… Astrid. I realize this is a bit pathetic, but I've had a crush on her since I first saw her in second grade._

_Yeah I know, pathetic._

"Hiccup!" Hiccup sighed as he was dragged back into the classroom.

"Oh would you let me out!" Hiccup said. "I need to get to class."

"You still have a few minutes, besides I wanted to let you know that your father was on his way home!" Gobber said as he changed his interchangeable hand to his welding tool.

"Oh great!" Hiccup said sarcastically as he put his things away.

"Now come on, Hiccup it's not that bad." Gobber told him coming to stand in front of him, "He just wants you to stop being all of this." He finished.

"But you just pointed to all of me." Hiccup said somewhat miffed.

"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you!" Gobber said with a smile.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes trying to look tough, "Oh…"

"Oh yeah."

"You, sir are playing a dangerous game." Hiccup warned half serious, "Keeping this much raw… Viking…ness contained! There'll be consequences!"

Gobber deadpanned, "I'll take my chances." He then shoved Hiccup into the hall, "Now get to class."

Hiccup sighed and made his way to his locker.

_One of these days I'll make something of myself. I'll prove to everyone that I can be tough and be the kind of man my father wants me to be._

Hiccup's face was suddenly shoved into his locker and snickering came to him. When he finally freed his face, he was then yanked onto the ground where he landed harshly. The hall suddenly exploded into laughter and Hiccup felt the familiar rush of embarrassment. There standing above him was the gang; Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Astrid.

Hiccup knew from experience that it was his cousin, Snotlout who had pushed him. Snotlout was the star football player, the most popular boy in school and could very well lift his own weight if not more. Unfortunately, he also happened to be Hiccup's personal bully.

"And here we thought you couldn't get any dorkier." Snotlout sneered making everyone laugh again. Hiccup failed to notice that the only two people who weren't laughing at him were Fishlegs and Astrid. Fishlegs merely looked uncomfortable and Astrid just looked board.

With his ridicule done, Snotlout led the group away from Hiccup, but not before pulling his books out of his locker making them land and scatter on the floor.

**..::-::..**

Chemistry was one of his favorite classes, but with the news of his father coming home, he couldn't focus. Which would explain why all of a sudden one of his beakers caught fire. Hiccup didn't notice until there were several screams and water was suddenly thrown in his face. Startled awake he fell out of his chair making the screams stop and laughter arise. Then the fire alarm went off.

"Alright, everyone outside!" The teacher said and the students did as they were told.

Hiccup looked at his teacher then took in the scene as he was walking out. Astrid was breathing hard and had a bucket in her hand before tossing it away. The beakers were black and the counter was also wet. "What is wrong with you!?" she snapped getting angry. "Someone could've really gotten hurt!"

"Miss Hofferson, please." The teacher said as they finally got outside and everyone noticed him, "Mr. Haddock, what happened?"

"He happened." Snotlout said, making the whole school laugh. Even some of the teachers started laughing, but they did their best to hide it. Hiccup saw right through them.

That was when the principal walked over, "What happened!?" she snapped. Seeing the sopping wet Hiccup, she sighed, "Never mind." Looking at the boy she asked, "Do you need to go to the nurse's office?"

Hiccup scowled and shook his head, "No, I'm fine."

"Alright, but I think I'll have Gobber drive you home." She said glaring slightly at him as the rest of the school snickered and glared at him as well, as Gobber walked up to them.

"Once again the great Hiccup pulls through for us!" Snotlout said not able to help himself. "And here we thought we might get a normal day! Thanks for messing up again!"

"You're welcome. That's what I was going for." Hiccup answered sarcastically before walking away with Gobber.

Gobber was kind enough to use Hiccup's car so the boy didn't have to walk to school the next day, but it was still so demeaning. Luckily the ride home was relatively quiet until they came to a stop in front of his way too big house. Gobber sighed, "Hiccup-"

"Gobber please, don't start." Hiccup said interrupting him as he got out of the car. Gobber ignored him and followed him to the door. "I know what's going to happen. He's going to look at me with that disappointed scowl like always. Excuse me waitress, I'm afraid you brought me the wrong child. I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms! Extra guts and glory on the side! This here, this is talkin' fishbone!"

"Now you're thinking about this all wrong, it's not so much what you look like; it's what's on the _inside_ that he can't stand." Gobber said trying to make him feel better, but Hiccup just stared at him.

"Thank you for summing that up." He said sarcastically.

"Look," Gobber went on, "The point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not."

"I just want to be one of you guys." Hiccup answered sadly before going into his house.


	2. Chapter 2

So... I had no idea my story would get so many reviews in one day no less! XD You guys are awesome, I've got to tell ya! Anyway, you should read the author's note when they're up, I don't leave them that often, just when I need to say something semi important. Anyway, I've had a few people ask/comment on if/when I'm going to update. Yes I am, every week and I'm going to finish this story so don't fret. It follows pretty closely to the movie for most of the story just to let you guys know. But anyway, please keep reviewing, I like to know what you guys think and what parts you liked! :D

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"We need more security on the lower levels." One of the scientists said. "And search teams."

Stoick nodded to him then proceeded with his meeting.

"We still haven't located it sir." Another scientist said hesitating to meet his eye. "We sent out search teams, but they still haven't anything."

Stoick nodded and shifted through more paperwork, "Keep up the search teams and I don't want any of this on the evening news." he growled. The scientist nodded and quickly raced out of the room. "Alright, meeting's over." At those words everyone filed out of the room until it was only Gobber and Stoick. Sighing slightly he turned to his friend and gave him a tired smile, "I heard about what happened with Hiccup in school today. Is he alright?" Stoick asked referring to his son's little beaker accident.

"Oh he's fine, just a little wet." Gobber replied with a smirk.

"Wet?"

Gobber then started laughing, "Well when he set the beaker on fire, the Hofferson girl, Astrid was fast enough to grab a bucket full of water and douse the fire and Hiccup."

Stoick sighed, "Oh what am I going to do with him Gobber?"

"Put him into training." Gobber answered with a knowing smirk.

"No I'm serious." Stoick said tiredly.

"So am I." Gobber pressed.

"He'd be down for the count at the morning wake up call." Stoick said looking at his friend.

"Oh you don't know that." Gobber said rolling his eyes.

"I do know that."

"No actually you don't."

"Actually I do."

"No you don't!" Gobber cried finally fed up.

"Gobber you know what's he's like." Stoick said sadly as he stood and started to pace slightly. "From the time he could crawl he's been… different. He doesn't listen; he has the attention span of a sparrow. I take him hunting and… he starts calculating the difference between a Shotgun and a Bolt Action 22!"

"Brains gets you far now a days!" Gobber said defending the boy. "When he's older he can get loads of money from that!"

Stoick sighed, "When I was a boy-"

"Oh here we go." Gobber said to himself tiredly, having heard this story one too many times.

"My father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it." Stoick went on, "I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And do you know what happened?" he asked rhetorically.

"You got a headache." Gobber replied sarcastically.

"That rock spilt in two. That taught me what a man, a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas!" Stoick cried excitedly. "Even as a boy I knew what I was, what I had to become." Stoick then sighed sadly plopping back into his chair and looking at his friend, "Hiccup is not that boy."

"You can't stop him, Stoick. You can only prepare him." Gobber told him wisely. "I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is you won't always be there to protect him, he's going to get out in the world and we all know it's dangerous."

**..::-::..**

Hiccup pushed another branch out of the way and moved forward. "Okay, what about, 'hi dad! It's great to see you! Been a long time! What are you doing back so soon?' No!" Hiccup cried shaking his head. "That will just make things even more awkward than they already are!" Hiccup had wondered into the forest that was behind his house to think. He often did this when he needed some fresh air or just to get away. Now he was trying to come up with a good excuse as to why he set the beakers on fire. So far, no good. "Well God hates me." He said then smacked a branch out of frustration. He wasn't at all prepared for it to come right back and smack him in the eye.

The poor boy cried out in pain and grabbed the offended eye before noticing that the branch was connected to a tree that was literally split in half. Removing his hand from his slowly healing eye he stared in amazement at the scene in front of him. Minus the tree right next to him, the ground was upturned and boulders were cracked. Other trees were spilt and knocked over and Hiccup felt his body move forward as he followed the trail of destruction. It didn't go on for very long until he reached a small hill. Climbing over it he happed to glance at a large back thing.

Completely startled Hiccup gasped and hid behind the hill. His heart racing and his mind reeling he did the stupid thing and looked over the hill again. There in a little clearing of debris was one of the largest animals he had ever seen. Curiosity getting the better of him, he slowly climbed down the hill and towards the creature. Looking closely at it, he noticed large black wings and a long tail that was bleeding on the end along with four big legs and a head. The creature was tied and bound with what looked like the orange, plastic mesh that construction workers put up as a temporary fence.

"Is this a… dragon?" Hiccup asked out loud then nearly laughed at himself. Dragons weren't real and this was probably a… big… lizard…? '_Yeah, one that can fly._' He thought sarcastically. "Wait…" Hiccup continued as he looked down at the creature. "Is it… dead?" Moving forward with bravery he had no idea he possessed, he leaned over and placed a hand on the dragon's side. "This thing feels like-"

Suddenly the dragon growled and moved under him. Hiccup let out a gasp and nearly fell over in shock. It was alive!

Hiccup looked over to its face and saw that it was looking at him. It had green eyes and black slits for pupils that looked like a cat. The boy saw the rise and fall of its chest and realization set in. "This is a dragon." He said slowly looking at the creature with a growing smile. "You are a dragon! Ha ha! I can't believe this is real!" He started to laugh happily, "Oh this fixes everything! I can tell my father about you then he'll finally see me as more than just a screw up! This is incredible! There are real dragons! Everyone will want to see you! Scientists will want to study you and-" Hiccup stopped in his rant as a thought occurred to him. Scientists would want to run experiments on him. They wouldn't hurt him… would they?

Just then he looked down at the dragon. His eyes widened as he recognized the look on its face. It was fear. Something Hiccup was very familiar with. Seeing that look he sighed, he couldn't do it. Being the son of a general, he knew how the government worked. The poor creature would be subjected to things no one should go through, just because it was different.

Determination welled inside him so he kneeled down, pulled out his pocket knife and started on the mesh. The dragon's eyes popped open when he felt the tight trap loosen. It waited patiently until it was able to be free completely then jumped onto the human who had freed it. Hiccup stared in fear once more as the dragon pinned it to the ground glaring at it. This was it, he was going to die, but instead of the creature killing him it simply roared in his face then bounded away before jumping into the air.

Hiccup's heart was racing as he heard the dragon screeching and roaring, but he paid no attention to it. Instead he tried to focus on stopping his racing heart and rapid breathing. Forcing himself to his feet, he gingerly grabbed his pocket knife and stood then promptly fainted.

**..::-::..**

It was 9:30 at night and Hiccup still wasn't home. Stoick wasn't too concerned, he was almost an adult and his curfew wasn't until 11:00, but with-

The front door suddenly creaked open indicating his son's return. He heard his son try and sneak behind him and up to his room so he chose to speak, "Hiccup, I need to speak with you."

Hiccup sighed and moved back down the stairs, "I need to talk to you too dad."

"Okay," Stoick said carefully, "I've decided to let you go to training."

"I've decided I don't want to go to training." Hiccup said. Unfortunately they had said it at the same time. "What?" they again said in unison.

"You go first." Stoick offered, nervous about this conversation.

"No you." Hiccup said, seemingly nervous as well.

"Alright," Stoick sighed, "You get your wish; training. Military training. You start after graduation."

"Oh, I should have gone first." Hiccup said quickly. Now that he had run into the dragon he had no desire whatsoever to do that. He knew he was too weak to shoot anything. He freaking fainted! "You know there aren't a lot of people in the research community. Maybe I could study something in there-"

"You'll need to get a gun once you turn 18. I'll start working on that." Stoick continued not paying attention to his son.

"I don't want to fight-"

Stoick laughed interrupting his son, "Oh son, it's not just that. It's so much more, moreover, you'll get used to it."

"Rephrase, dad I _can't_ do this." Hiccup said strongly.

"We're Vikings Hiccup. It's an occupational hazard and besides," Stoick chuckled, "You will."

"No, I'm really extra sure that I won't." Hiccup continued.

"It's time Henry." Stoick said getting serious.

"Can you not hear me?" Hiccup continued desperately.

"This is serious son." Stoick stated strongly. "When you're a part of something like this. Everyone is a part of it with you. Which means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more of… this." The man finished pointed to his son.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "You just gestured to all of me."

"Deal?" Stoick asked ignoring his son's comment.

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided." Hiccup tired half-heartedly one more time.

"Deal?" Stoick asked again strongly getting a little tired.

Hiccup sighed, "Deal."

"Good." Stoick then pulled his coat on, "I have to go to the base. I'll be back in a few days, probably."

Hiccup sighed as he watched his father leave; unsurprised that he was going to be gone once again. "And I'll be here, maybe."


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the love guys! Enjoy the next one! Please let me know what you like what you don't that kind of thing. In other words REVIEW! XD Btw there is a line Hiccup says in this from the movie that is so freaking funny to me! See if you can gues which one! ;D

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Slamming his locker shut, Hiccup sighed. With everything that had happened yesterday, he could barely focus. He pretty much went through the motions not really paying attention. That all changed however when he was in Gobber's class for aid and Astrid walked in. Gobber had just given the class a rather loud assignment and was talking to Hiccup about the boy's dilemma while they repaired some machines in the back.

"Gobber he never listens."

"Yeah well it runs in the family." Gobber added drily.

"I tried to tell him-"

"I don't see why this is such a big deal!" Gobber cried interrupting Hiccup. "You wanted to get a chance to prove yourself for so long, he finally gives you that chance and you're backing out!?"

"I've learned that I want to do something other than run around with a gun and shoot people." Hiccup answered somewhat mockingly.

Gobber chuckled, "Oh the military is more than just that… that's just a bonus, nothing that should make you uncomfortable."

Seeing he wasn't going to get anywhere with the man Hiccup just sighed, "Speaking of uncomfortable, I'd like a new conversation please?"

"Alright… How's it going with the ladies?" Gobber said raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"Oh yeah, way to get the mood back on track." Hiccup said sarcastically rolling his eyes.

"Oh come on!" Gobber said with a smile. "I've seen the way you look at Astrid."

"Please." Hiccup deadpanned, "Astrid wouldn't come near me if she was on fire and I had the only water source in town."

"Knock, knock." Both heads turned towards the door where Astrid stood. "I'm here to pick up a chair for Mr. Beckell."

"Oh yes." Gobber said looking around the cluttered space. "It's not quite finished yet."

"Should I come back then?" Astrid asked sounding bored.

"No. Umm…" Gobber looked at Hiccup who was hunched over slightly working on one of the machines then grabbed the boy by his shirt and shoved him towards Astrid where they almost bumped into each other. "My, _manly_ aid would be happy to fix it for you." Turning to Hiccup he added, "It's that black one over there." Looking back at the teenagers he continued, "I'll just umm… I have to go… get… some… I'll just be outside." He finished awkwardly before leaving the shop.

Hiccup sighed; Gobber had probably just made that worse. Trying to forget, he moved over to the corner where the black chair was. Hiccup mentally slapped his forehead, Gobber hadn't even touched it! So picking it up and taking it over to the open space where he could work he placed it on the ground and began welding the seat back in place.

"How long is this going to take?" Astrid said now sounding a little peeved.

Hiccup moved his face mask up and looked at her, "Not long. It'll just be a few minutes."

"Fine." They were both relatively silent for a while, while Hiccup worked on the chair. He was almost finished when he heard Astrid ask, "What's this?"

He stopped his work and looked back at her. His eyes widened, "Don't touch that!" he cried while dropping his tool and racing to her, but it was too late. Astrid hissed in pain as her fingers were burned. She went to put them in her mouth, but was stopped by Hiccup. "Don't do that, it'll just make it worse. Here," He said taking her hand softly and placing it in the sink. He then mildly turned on the cold water and held her hand under it. Astrid hissed in pain again and tried to pull her hand away, but couldn't, Hiccup was holding firm. Finally the pain subsided where it was tolerable and he let go and removed his gloves. "Just keep it under the water; I'll go get the first aid kit." Astrid said nothing, but did as she was told.

When he got back he had the kit in his hand and another chair. Placing the chair on ground he walked up to Astrid and placed the supplies on the counter. When he was ready, he gently took her hand out of the water and began rubbing burn cream on her injured fingers. Astrid watched in a sort of daze, the pain going to her head. She never let anyone touch her. Once the cream was on he moved onto the gauze and wrapped her fingers. "There." Hiccup said once he was done. "That should do for now. Go ahead and take a seat, if you want."

Astrid took the offered seat as she watched Hiccup get back to work. Looking at his dirty shirt and somewhat sweaty arms, her face started to heat up very slightly. Astrid shook her head. This was _Hiccup_ for Pete's sake, but… it was still a guy working in a garage. A guy with arms that were just starting to show muscle-

Lord, she had to get out of here.

"Are you almost done?" she all but snapped.

"Almost." Was his muffled reply. He then took his mask off and walked over to the sink. Taking a bucket he filled it with water then took the thing over to the chair before dousing it. Astrid watched in slight fascination as steam rose from the now cooled spots. He then took the towel from his shoulder and wiped down the wet areas. Once that was done he placed the towel back on his shoulders then replaced the pad for the chair. "Now it's done." Hiccup told her with a smile of satisfaction. Astrid looked at the chair, it… looked good. "I also suggest you go to the nurse." He went on pointing to her hand. She looking down at the appendage then back at him, "I've had my share of burns, but I'm no doctor."

Again Astrid looked at her hand, "I'll be fine." She said then started to take the chair out, "Thanks."

"Sure." Hiccup answered with a half-smile.

**..::-::..**

The bell for lunch rang and Hiccup made his way to the cafeteria. He had time to think about that dragon and had decided that he was going to try and find it again after school. As for lunch, he was expecting it to be just like any other lunch, he'd sit alone at 'the loser table' that literally no one else sat at because he 'contaminated it' and eat his lunch in relative peace. However God had a different plan for him because when he was walking to his seat with his lunch, his foot suddenly caught on something and he went crashing down, spilling his tray of food on something, though when he heard the loud cry of his cousin he knew it was a someone instead.

Hiccup didn't even have a chance to pick himself up off the floor when Snotlout grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him to his feet. "You really want a pounding don't you?" the boy asked glaring at him, Hiccup's lunch dripping from his jacket.

"Of course I do, pain; love it." Hiccup muttered rolling his eyes then immediately regretted it.

Snotlout pushed him roughly and the boy cringed as his back hit the wall. "Then you'll just _adore_ this." He sneered.

"Um, guys?" Fishlegs said, but no one listened to him.

The twins started snickering making Astrid sigh. "Guys come on. We don't have time for this." She said crossing her arms seemingly bored.

"Guys!" Fishlegs tried again, but once more went ignored. Snotlout smirked and pulled his fist back. Hiccup cringed and closed his eyes in preparation for the hit, but a loud clearing of someone's throat made him open his eyes and everyone snap their heads to attention. Standing there with her hands on her hips was the principal her eyes angry. "I tried to tell you." Fishlegs said quietly.

The Principal ignored him and looked at them all, "My office. Now." She turned and left knowing the rest of them would follow and follow they did, but not before Snotlout dropped Hiccup to the ground harshly and the twins sneered at the boy one last time.

**..::-::..**

1 hour and 6 stories later the Principal finally called everyone back to her office. Once they got there she spoke to them, "After going over everything I've decided to give you all 2 months detention."

"What!?"

"Why?!"

"Are you kidding me!?"

"That's not fair!"

Mrs. Golthi raised her hand to silence all of them, "You will all meet after school in Gobber's room. He will decide when you are done and how you will serve your detention."

"But I have football practice after school!" Snotlout cried.

"So do I!" Tuffnut added.

"Me too!" Fishlegs said nodding.

"And we have Volleyball practice!" Astrid supplied gesturing to herself and Ruffnut.

"Then you all should have thought about that before you started that fight." Mrs. Golthi said undeterred.

"But _we_ didn't!" Astrid said obviously upset.

"And I believe I am the victim here." Hiccup mumbled getting a glare from everyone.

"Regardless," Mrs. Golthi said, "You will _all_ be there tomorrow. You are dismissed."

Hiccup sighed and left the room, he had better things to do. As soon as school was out he went as fast as he could to his car, drove home then deposited his things in his room. Making sure his phone was charged he left his house and did his best to retrace his steps.

Hiccup wondered around for about an hour before he nearly fell off a cliff. "Whoa!" he cried quickly grabbing onto a nearby tree branch. Hiccup put a hand over his racing heart and gently leaned over the side.

The cliff was indeed a cliff, but instead, as Hiccup looked around, he noticed it was like a giant bowl. It even had a large lake in the middle and a water fall off to the side. It was a very beautiful sight, but that was it. "Well this was stupid." Hiccup said to himself. What the heck was he supposed to find anyway. The seventeen year old sighed when something caught his eye. Looking down a black, flat rock was lying on the ground. Kneeling down he picked it up and examined it.

"It's a scale." He said in realization. "But… what animal does it belong to?"

Suddenly a loud screech and a black blur blew past him so fast it knocked the boy off his feet. Hiccup moved back to his feet and over to the edge with wide eyes and watched in amazement as the dragon tried several times to get up into the air, but crashed down to the ground instead. The dragon then moved over to the lake when a fish decided to jump out of the water. Hiccup watched as the dragon plunged its head into the water trying and failing to get a fish. Hiccup quickly pulled out his notebook and jotted down a picture of the dragon. "Why don't you just fly away?" he asked to no one in particular.

The dragon then let out a shot at the ground seemingly in frustration. Hiccup then noticed that the dragon's tail was missing one of its fins so he erased the other fin on his picture, but when he went to put the pencil away, it slipped out of his hand and rolled down the cliff side and landed among the rocks. The sound made the dragon look up at him. For a moment Hiccup's heart stopped as he thought the dragon would fire at him… but it didn't. It just looked at him with a somewhat curious face on. It seemed that the dragon recognized him. Hiccup tipped his head to the side in confusion making the dragon do the same thing.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks again for all the love! I really enjoy reading what you guys think! Sorry about this chapter being a day late. I have no excuse. I just forgot. ^^; Anywho! On with the story! I'm really excited for you guys to read this chapter! Please let me know what you loved!

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"Welcome to detention!" Gobber said happily the next day after school to the six students who were already bored. "I've decided to change things up a bit and make you all do community service while I teach you how to survive!"

"What!?" They all cried. "I'm pretty sure you can't do that!" Snotlout said looking angry.

"Actually, I can." Gobber argued. "Golthi said that I was in charge of you and how you served your detention _and_ how long to keep you!" Fishlegs opened his mouth, but Gobber stopped him, "Don't worry, you'll all have enough time to be home for dinner."

"Fine!" Tuffnut cried his head falling onto the desk with a loud thunk.

"What do we do first?" Ruffnut asked looking just as bored as her brother.

Gobber smirked, "We're going on Highway patrol!"

Instantly Tuffnut's head popped up and he wore an evil smirk, "Sweet!"

**..::-::..**

"ARG!" Tuffnut cried in frustration, "This is not what I thought you meant when you said highway patrol!"

They were all on the highway picking up trash. Gobber was standing to the side watching them and every once in a while started laughing at their plight. Hiccup really just wanted to go home and maybe see that dragon again so he wasn't really paying much attention.

"I blame Hiccup." Snotlout said looking over at his cousin with a sneer.

"Me too." Ruffnut added punching a candy wrapper roughly.

"Same here." Tuffnut agreed. "Can we at least transfer to the detention class with the cool trash-pickers?"

This earned snickers from the others except Astrid. She on the other hand was watching Hiccup to see his reaction, not that she cared because she definitely didn't care. She was just curious; however his reaction was not one she was expecting. Instead of lowering his head or running off or start to cry, he rolled his eyes and kept working. This shocked her little, not that she showed it, but it did shock her very slightly. Maybe Hiccup wasn't such a wimp or as pathetic as she thought he was. After all he did help her yesterday when she had stupidly burned her fingers _and_ he hadn't told anyone about it.

And he looked hot sweaty.

Astrid froze; she had been out her too long already.

Hiccup on the other hand just ignored the continued jeering and went on with his cleaning. Soon they would be done and he could see that dragon again. Maybe it was gone by now. The other day it looked like it was having trouble flying so theoretically it would still be there or at least in the vicinity, but then again his luck was never that great-

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup looked up to see and hear a car coming straight for him. His eyes widened, his heart started to race and his life started to flash before his eyes, but just as he was about to be hit, a large hand pulled him back and he landed roughly onto the ground, his back hitting the cement wall.

"SLOW DOWN YOU MANIAC AND WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" Gobber yelled at the retreating car speeding away. Hiccup's heart was still racing and he was breathing hard as Gobber turned to face him and the other teens were walking up to them, "Rule one about life," Gobber began looking at them all, "Always," He turned and looked at Hiccup, "_Always_ pay attention."

**..::-::..**

Walking into the public library after school and detention, Hiccup went straight to the mythological section. He needed to learn more about dragons. He spent the next two hours or so looking at book reading about different dragons and the legends that went with them. Finally he found another book that looked promising. "Viking Dragon Classifications." Hiccup read aloud looking at the cover. Taking the book over to a table he sat down and started to read. "In ancient Viking Lore they believed that there were hundreds of different types of dragons that lived among them. According to the legends they were constantly at odds with each other and never got along." Hiccup continued to read about all kinds of different dragons that supposedly lived in ancient times. He read about 'The whispering Death,' 'The Scrill,' 'The Bonenapper,' and many others. Hiccup truly was amazed at the detail and the apparent history that went along with it.

He turned to the last page of the book only to see nothing there. "The Night Fury." Hiccup read, "Size unknown, speed unknown. Legends say that this particular dragon was the most feared dragon off them all. The Vikings never saw that dragon and were glad of the fact. Apparently they said it was the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. They never were allowed to engage this dragon for if they did, their only hope was to hide and pray it never found you."

Hiccup sat back in his chair thinking. He needed to know more about all these dragons. From what he had seen so far none of the dragons in the book matched the one he had found. Maybe… maybe _that_ was the Night Fury. He sighed and took the book with him to check it out. There had to be someone he could ask about Viking Lore and Dragon history. Then it hit him. He'd asked Gobber tomorrow at detention.

**..::-::..**

Stoick watched as the lights from the other floors passed in silence as he descended. Base 32 had been asking for more and more security for their experiments, and he was under orders to give it to them, but he was still curious why they needed it in the first place. He decided to give them a checking up on.

He finally arrived at his floor and was greeted by the head of research, Mendel. "Hello sir." Mendel said with a friendly smile.

Stoick returned the smile, "Hello. I've come to check up on everything."

Mendel nodded, "Of course. Follow me." Stoick did just that and followed the scientist through the base and 'tour' of sorts. They made it through without a glitch and were making their way to the end when Stoick stopped.

"What's in there?" He asked eyeing the steel doors curiously.

"Oh that is experiment RD02. It's not quite ready yet." Mendel said before walking away.

Stoick looked at the doors one last time before following the scientist. However if he had stayed a moment longer he would have seen the outline of a large object, just as it let out a scream.

**..::-::..**

Hiccup pulled up parked his car and sighed before getting out. He looked up at the sign and started walking. Gobber had told everyone to meet at the zoo, but not why. So it was not a very surprising thing that the moment he walked in and joined everyone else, Fishlegs asked, "Um Gobber, why are we all here at the zoo after hours?"

Gobber smirked but said nothing as he led them into the zoo then into a room. Finally he spoke to them, "This is your first test."

"What?" Tuffnut said nervous about the word test.

"I've decided to spice things up a bit." Gobber went on going to a power box and turning switches. "You're all looking for a scholarship correct?" Everyone nodded, "Well I found a way to give it to you, but only one of you."

"What are you talking about?" Ruffnut asked just as confused as everyone else.

"A military scholarship!" Gobber said happily, "Presented to you, by my very best friend, Hiccup's dad, General Stoick Haddock." Hiccup blinked in surprise. This was the first he was hearing about it and normally he was the first to know about these things because his dad always wanted to prepare him. "But you all need to learn how to survive. Which is why I've come up with a great idea!"

"Okay." Snotlout said slowly, nervous like everyone else.

"Whoever wins these survival tests wins the scholarship!" Gobber declared.

Everyone started nodding and smiling at the idea. "Okay. That shouldn't be too hard." Tuffnut said with a smirk.

"Yeah." his sister agreed, "We so got this!"

"Alright, I'll play along." Astrid said with a smirk. "What's the first test?"

Gobber smiled at them then led them through another door that led outside. Once everyone was outside he stepped back to the door and said, "Your first test is to survive a bear attack."

Everyone was silent for a moment while they tried to process that until Hiccup finally spoke, "What, what, what?"

"I said, your first test is to survive a bear attack. Good luck!" he said happily before slamming the door shut.

"That's what I thought he said I just was hoping I heard him wrong." Hiccup said tiredly before looking to Astrid as she started to pound on the door.

"Gobber let us back inside!" she demanded.

Suddenly a light flickered on above their heads making them all look up. Goober was standing in what looked like an observation room holing something to his mouth making them all realize they were in the bear's cage, "The object of this exercise is to not get 'killed'." he said doing air quotes as his voice rang from using the microphone. "Whoever can make the bear not interested in them wins. If you get caught you lose. If you get hit you lose."

"Gobber I know you're crazy and everything," Hiccup called up as Fishlegs started to hyperventilate, "But are you insane!? This is a real bear! We could die!"

"Relax." Gobber said throwing the thought away before opening a small hatch in the window and leaning out with what looked like a gun, "I've got this!" he said happily.

"A gun?" Fishlegs asked taking a couple puffs of his inhaler.

"Yeah," Snotlout said, "So he can put us out of our misery when we die!" he yelled the last part glaring at Gobber.

"It's a tranquilizer gun and ample ammo. I can see everywhere from here, you're all perfectly safe... well not that safe, but safe enough." Gobber said going back inside before coming right back out. "Oh and another thing. You are all over 18 years old and training for the military." So that's how he was able to pull this off. He lied. "I would start moving now." Gobber said looking off at something. "Biter is very temperamental and we have woken him up."

"We?" Astrid asked referring to Gobber's microphone.

"Biter?" Snotlout asked not liking the name.

"That's not a very comforting name." Fishlegs whimpered holding his inhaler close to his chest.

Just then a loud roar sounded and everyone's heart dropped, "I'd start moving if I were you." Gobber sang with a smirk.

That was when the bear came into view and everyone scattered. Hiccup ran and hid but somehow he was able to keep his mind on that dragon and the question he still had to ask. So being stupid he left the cover and ran up to the window. "So Gobber, I know this is kind of random, but I was wondering. Do you know anything about dragons? Night Fury's in particular?" He had decided to ask Gobber because Gobber was also a Viking descendant, if his father and Gobber were to be believed, and the man seemed to know everything about Viking lore. If the books in the library were true then it certainly didn't hurt to ask.

Unfortunately that meant not really paying attention and Hiccup was snapped back into the situation when a large rock nearly missed his head. He let out a startled cry and looked around when he saw the bear coming right at him. Running away as fast as he could he heard Gobber snap, "Focus Hiccup! You're not even trying!" Gobber sighed and continued to address the rest of the class, "Tonight is about strategy! Bears are all about strength so your job is to outwit them."

Suddenly a scream filled the air, "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Fishlegs cried running to the door now that he was 'killed'.

"When you come across a bear that thinks you're attacking it you're supposed to play dead." Gobber went on ignoring Fishlegs before coming down to open the door for him.

The twins weren't having that much luck either. Upon running away they ran straight into the bear then promptly did as they were told and dropped dead. Ruffnut was forced to fall on top of Tuffnut. Breathing evenly as possible as the bear sniffed them she had to breathe in her brother. "Ugh." She whispered into his ear. "Do you ever bathe?"

"If you don't like it, you can get your own spot to play dead." Tuffnut snapped jerking up and startling the bear slightly.

"How about I make you dead!?" Ruffnut snapped back pushing him into the dirt. The bear now more angry roared, getting the attention of the twins. Ruffnut stood and quickly pulled her brother away as the bear went after them.

"Play dead yes, be overly aggressive… not so much." Gobber told them before chuckling slightly as he saw the twins hurtle over to the door.

"Hey, hey so how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" Hiccup asked coming to a stop trying to pry Gobber for information again once he came back from letting the twins in.

"No one's ever seen one and lived to tell the tale, plus their not real. Now get in there!" Gobber snapped.

"I know, I know, but hypothetically-"

"Hiccup!" Hiccup turned his head at his name to see Astrid and Snotlout looking at him. "Get down." Astrid said softly. Hiccup did as he was told as Astrid looked past the corner to see the bear sniffing at something. Preparing herself mentally, she then rolled past the open area and back into the shadows. Snotlout followed suit both being silent. Hiccup went to do the same, but rolled into a tree and hit his head. He barely had time to right himself when the bear snapped to attention and glared at them letting out a roar.

They all started to run away when the bear came across Astrid and Snotlout. Snotlout pushed Astrid aside rudely saying, "I'll totally make us a distraction." He then aimed his knife at the tree wanting to hit the leaves, but it missed the tree entirely. Astrid glared at him and even the bear seemed like it started laughing at him before roaring at them and giving chase once more. "The light was in my eyes Astrid!" Snotlout cried and continued giving some lame excuse even as she started screaming because the bear was on her heels.

Hiccup on the other hand had found his way back to Gobber, "Has anyone ever seen one napping?"

"Hiccup!" Gobber cried tired of the boy's stupid questions.

Hiccup looked behind him as one of the trees started to fall, "Hiccup!" Astrid cried as she jumped off the tree and landed on top of him, the tree crashing to their left. Once the dust cleared, they were both trying to escape. Somehow they had managed to tangle their legs together and were having trouble getting apart.

"Oh love on the battle field." Tuffnut said jeeringly from the window.

"She can do better." Ruffnut added right next to him.

"Here let me…" Hiccup started as Astrid tried to free herself. "Why don't you…" He then let out a cry of pain as she finally jerked her body away from him. It was then she saw that the bear had recovered and was charging right for them. Eyes widened she leaned down and took a large branch from the tree and pulled. At the last second she freed the branch and swung it as hard as she could at the bear. It collided with the animal's nose making it cry out in pain and slink off away from them.

"Well done Astrid you've won this round." Gobber said coming to get them from the enclosure.

Astrid wasn't quite done. Turning she glared down at the slowly uncurling boy, "Is this some sort of a joke to you?" She asked angrily. "That bear could've killed us." She paused still trying to regain her breath. "If you want to die that's your own business, but leave me out of it!" With that she turned and ran out of the cage.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about the lateness again, hectic at work, let me tell ya! Anywho on with the story! Keep up the reviews!

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Hiccup threw his keys onto the kitchen counter the next day after a regular detention, Gobber had been called to the base, and placed his backpack on the table. That dragon had been trying to catch a fish so it must be hungry. With that thought in mind he grabbed the fish he had been planning on eating for dinner that night out of the fridge and his pocket knife before hooking it onto his key chain on his keys, then exited his house. Running straight to the cliff side he was about to go back to the spot he had gone to before, but a small trail that led down caught his eye. So he followed that instead and it led to a small opening between two large boulders.

Hiccup took the fish and threw it into the clearing, but when nothing happened he slowly went in himself. He walked over to the fish and picked it back up and slowly continued into the clearing looking around for anything, but failed to notice the dragon crawling over a large boulder sneaking closer to him.

When the dragon let out a bit of a growl Hiccup spun around and watched as the dragon came closer to him. When it didn't try to eat him and actually was inching closer to the fish. Hiccup smirked and held out the fish for him, but when the dragon suddenly hissed and growled at him, he jerked away startled. The dragon looked directly at his belt. Hiccup, without looking away from the dragon put his hand on his belt and felt his pocket knife. The dragon hissed again startling the boy.

Forcing his body to move Hiccup took the knife off the keychain and dropped on the ground. The dragon then made a gesture that clearly said 'throw it away'. So Hiccup maneuvered his foot to get under the knife and tossed it into the lake. Once the plop sounded the dragon sat down looking at Hiccup expectantly. Hiccup had to suppress a chuckle at the dragon's face. It looked like a puppy!

Hiccup tried again and held out the fish. The dragon still wary of him moved forward cautiously then snaked his mouth which was now open closer and closer. "Huh." Hiccup said as he saw the inside of the dragon's mouth, "Toothless. I could've sworn you had-" Just then the dragon's teeth shot out from its gums and the beast took the fish chomping it in half, swallowing it then licked its lips all in five seconds flat. "Teeth." Hiccup finished in shock. The dragon then eyed him and started coming towards him. Nervously Hiccup backed up, but tripped and landed against one of the many boulders. Trying to deter the dragon he held up his hands, "No, I don't have anymore."

The dragon's eyes then rolled into the back of its head and he started to heave. After a few moments it then threw up half of the fish Hiccup had fed it and spit it back out onto the boys lap. Hiccup just sat there holding the partially digested fish not knowing what to do when the dragon looked at him expectantly.

They stayed like that for a few minutes until the dragon gestured for Hiccup to eat it. Hiccup looked at the dragon then at the fish. When the dragon did not waver, Hiccup slowly and regretfully took a bite of the disgusting meal. He held it in his mouth hopping to spit it out later, but the dragon would have none of that. It made a motion that he was to swallow and swallow he did. It took all of Hiccup's strength not to barf right there.

Feeling particularly weak after gulping down the thing, Hiccup offered the dragon a crooked smile. He stared in confusion as the dragon tried to copy him, offering Hiccup a gummy smile. Grinning himself Hiccup put the fish down and leaned forward towards the dragon with his hand out. The dragon's smile fell and he growled at the boy before bounding away.

But Hiccup was determined. He had gotten this far why not go farther? He stood up and walked over to where the dragon was resting taking note that it used its fire-breath to heat up the spot where it laid. So taking a seat he watched as the beast watched a bird fly away then it noticed him. Slight shock overcame Hiccup as the dragon's face clearly fell and he wore an expression that was just plain bored. It placed its remaining tail fin over its eyes and that's when Hiccup moved in closer to try and touch it, but the dragon sensed him slamming it tail fin down so it was now staring at the boy. Shocked, Hiccup quickly stood and walked away.

A few hours later the sun was starting to set and the dragon awoke from his upside down nap to the sound of scratching and the smell of that same human. Curiosity taking over his better judgment the dragon hopped of the branch and walked over to the boy only to see him scratching the sand with a stick.

It was a few seconds before Hiccup noticed the dragon standing behind him and watching his movements. Thinking it better to just ignore him for the moment he went on drawing the same dragon. Only when he heard a large snapping sound and the rustling of leaves did he look up to see the dragon carrying a small tree in his mouth. To his amusement and slight shock the dragon began dragging the end of the tree on the ground much like Hiccup had been doing. The dragon drew all around Hiccup, even managing to smack him in the head before it pulled to a stop to admire his work. It nodded its head with a happy look on its face as it looked on the ground.

Wanting to get a better look himself, Hiccup stood and started to walk away, but when the dragon suddenly started to growl he froze in his movements even going so far as to pick up his foot. That seemed to pacify the creature as it looked at him with its big eyes and purred. Confused, Hiccup looked down and saw one of the dragon's many lines. Hiccup wanted to test a theory of his, so he placed his foot on the ground making the dragon growl again. He picked his foot up and it purred. Back on the drawing it growled and took a step towards him.

Realizing that was enough teasing, and he probably wouldn't survive anymore, Hiccup picked up his foot and smiled reassuringly at the creature. Hiccup did his best not to walk on any of the lines and maneuver his way out of the drawing. When he finally made it to the end he suddenly felt hot breath on the top of his head. Startled by the proximity Hiccup quickly moved away, but when he realized the dragon wasn't growling or running away he reached out to touch him again. The dragon growled once more, but it was weaker this time. Hiccup kept his hand there, but the dragon refused it. So deciding to take a leap of faith, Hiccup held his hand out and turned away from the dragon.

If he wanted that dragon to trust him, he had to show him that it could.

That was when Hiccup felt a dry and scaly thing gently touch his hand. Surprised Hiccup flinched, but held his ground enough to not move away. Instead he looked over at the creature to find its eyes closed, but it only lasted a minute then the dragon pulled away, looked at Hiccup one last time then ran off. Hiccup stared after it then looked at his hand; he had just touched a dragon and lived. He then looked up at the slowly darkening sky and sighed. What was going to happen tomorrow?

**..::-::..**

Hiccup looked up at the dark sky as more stars started to come out. They were done with the survival lesson for the day and now they were all gathered around the camp fire that they all had made. Gobber had pretty much blackmailed them all into staying in this little competition saying that if they wanted that scholarship they had to do what he said. Grudgingly everyone agreed knowing the scholarship pretty much paved the road for their lives. Now they were all hearing horror stories from Gobber's military days and his own survival experiences. This particular story was about his lost limbs. Hiccup was only half listening. He still didn't know what to do about the supposed dragon that he had found. Was he supposed to tell someone about it or was there some way to help it? Should he just leave it?

"And with one swoop, he swallowed my arm whole." Gobber was saying drawing him from his thoughts, "And I saw the look on his face, I was delicious." He added with a smirk. "And he must have passed the word because it wasn't a month before another one took my leg."

"Wow!" Fishlegs said amazed. "Can't you just imagine if your hand was still alive you could kill the alligator from the inside by crushing its heart or something?"

Everyone looked at him strangely for a bit before Snotlout growled making the attention go to him. "I swear I'm so angry right now!" he snarled. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot by chopping off every leg I see… with my face!" he added trying to sound tough.

"No." Gobber said shaking his head, "For some animals that would work, but with birds and things of the air, it's the wings and the tails you want. An animal without those can't fly. And an animal that can't fly is as good as dead."

That clinched it.

Hiccup stood and turned his flashlight back on before he made his way through the forest to his car.

Astrid took that chance to look up, just in time to see Hiccup disappear. Startled at first she got up and looked around only to see his light waving and getting dimmer until he made it to the parking lot. '_What is he doing?_' Astrid asked herself before shaking her head, '_Better question, why do I care?_'

Hiccup went straight home and started his work on the design first. He was going to build the dragon a new tailfin.

**..::-::..**

Hiccup stayed up all night working on the tailfin with multiple trips to the 24 hour hardware store, the grocery store, fabric store and a few choice others, like the candy store, he had a finished product. Unfortunately he was feeling it all day through school and detention. He went home after that and took a nap. When he finally woke up he went straight to the store and bought several different types of fish. Enough to fill a whole barrel and he did. He took his barrel of fish and the new tailfin and made his way to the cove.

"Hey Toothless!" Hiccup called walking cautiously up to the dragon. "I brought Dinner." He huffed putting the barrel down. "I hope you're hungry!" he added pushing it over letting the contents spill out. "Yeah, the disgusting. Okay," Hiccup continued as the dragon come closer eyeing the meal. "I've got some Salmon, some nice Icelandic Cod and a whole smoked eel." He said about ready to walk behind the dragon to get to his tail, but suddenly it started making strange clicking sounds and hissing. Curious, Hiccup picked up the eel and showed it to the dragon. Toothless then backed up and roared in anger. "No! No no no!" Hiccup cried throwing the eel away to pacify the beast. Once the eel was gone Toothless calmed down, "Yeah, I never really liked eel either." Hiccup said wiping his hands off.

As the dragon ate Hiccup slowly made his way around him to the back gently coaxing him to continue eating. Hiccup very carefully kneeled down next to the dragon and placed the tailfin next to the tail. At first he was fairly cautious not wanting to scare the dragon into an attack, but when nothing happened after he accidentally touched his tail, Hiccup grabbed onto the tail to try and stop him from moving it, "It's okay!" he offered, but when that didn't work he sat on top of it so that he could attach the tailfin. Securing it to the tail, he failed to notice Toothless open his wings and expand his remaining tailfin. Pulling out the fabric some to see it, Hiccup smiled, "That's not too bad. It works." Just then Toothless took off flying into the air taking Hiccup with him. "WHOA!" Hiccup cried as they started to fly out of the basin. He was holding on for dear life when he noticed the tailfin that he had made was not open like the dragon's. That was when they started to fall. The dragon shrieked and Hiccup then pulled out the tailfin and they both shot into the air. "Oh my! It's working!" Hiccup cried turning he fin as they flew higher. It changed they direction back into the basin. Overcome with joy, Hiccup shook the fin slightly, "Yes, yes! I did it!" Toothless then noticed him and threw him off into the water. Now without Hiccup to keep his fin open, the dragon too crashed into the water. "Yeah!" Hiccup cried happily once he resurfaced.

**..::-::..**

"Today is about teamwork." Gobber said as the kids all paired up. Hiccup was placed with Fishlegs and the girls were placed together, leaving Snotlout and Tuffnut together. "Wolves can be tricky. They hunt in packs and are rarely alone. You're job today is to try and find the leader." They were once again at the zoo this time it was during the day, but it had been closed off for renovation of some sort.

"Are you nuts!?" Snotlout cried.

"Maybe little." Gobber said with a smile, "Good luck!" They were in an enclosed area, Gobber now heading out of it while the kids were left to fend for themselves.

"Razor sharp serrated teeth that inject its venom for pre-digestion, prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims-"

"Would you please stop that!?" Hiccup hissed to Fishlegs effectively shutting him up.

"If any of those wolves," Snotlout said pushing Tuffnut out of the way, "Show any of their faces I'm gonna- There!" he cried pointing to shadow. Both Tuffnut and Snotlout swung a stick smacking the ground making two voices shriek.

"Hey!" Ruffnut whined, "It's us, idiots."

"Your butts are getting bigger," Tuffnut sneered, "We thought you were wolves."

Hearing that Snotlout promptly added suggestively, "Not that there's anything wrong with a wolfish fig-"

That was when Astrid socked him in the face and Ruffnut threw her stick at her brother knocking him to the ground. Growling was heard and Tuffnut was dragged back into the foliage. Ruffnut went to help, but Astrid held her back when they heard the sound of a wolf yelping and Gobber crying out happily, "Gotcha!"

Tuffnut then chose that moment to come running out of the foliage seemingly unhurt but yelling otherwise, "Oh I'm hurt I am very much hurt!"

As Tuffnut ran past them Fishlegs visibly shrunk, "Our chances of survival are dwindling in the single digits now."

That was when a wolf finally came out and started to stalk up to Fishlegs. Fishlegs moved around a bit then finally took his own stick and smacked the wolf promptly knocking it out. That was when 4 more wolves appeared one of them leading the rest. "Oh, wrong wolf." He said. The wolves growled and 2 of them chased him away leaving the leader and the other one to Hiccup.

"Now Hiccup!" Gobber cried trying to encourage him, but holding up his gun nonetheless.

Hiccup took up the stick and swung but he missed completely, "Oh come on." Hiccup said to himself. The wolves took one look at the stick then growled and advance on him.

Hiccup tripped and fell to the ground making Gobber cry out, "Hiccup!"

He was about to fire, but froze when he saw Hiccup stand up, "Get back!" Hiccup cried making the wolves stop in their tracks. Most people ran away from them, not boss them around. The leader took another step forward, but Hiccup forced himself to glare at him and take a step forward as well, making sure to put a growl in his voice, "Back! I said get back!" The wolves then surprisingly did as they were told, until finally they turned and ran away. "That's right! Think about what you've done!" Hiccup called before turning around only to see everyone staring at him completely shocked. Not sure what to say or how to explain, Hiccup simply said, "Okay, so are we done? Cause I've got some things I need to uh… yeah. See, see you tomorrow."


	6. Chapter 6

I really need to get a hang on this update thing! Sheesh, PrayerGirl, figure it out!:P Anywho on with the story! Keep up the reviews!

P.S. This is like my least favorite chapter because it was so freaking hard to write! But oh well, let me know what you think anyway!

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After Detention Hiccup went straight to work. He was going to try and ride that dragon, so he needed a saddle. After he finished one that would most likely work, he headed to the cove and showed Toothless the saddle.

The Dragon promptly ran away.

When he finally was able to get it on him, it worked like a charm, but the next problem was the fin. Pulling it on a string wouldn't work and Hiccup kept falling off. Once he solved that problem with a hook and a riding belt, he tried attaching it to his foot, still no control and when they crash landed that time they landed in a field full of weird looking grass. After getting his bearings back Hiccup saw that Toothless rather liked that grass to put it lightly. And strangely enough when he held up a piece of it to a wild cat that nearly killed him, the cat rolled over and started acting like any house hold animal. Hiccup decided to call the weird grass, 'Dragon nip'.

"That was amazing!" Fishlegs said as they all left the zoo.

"I've never seen a mountain lion do that!" Snotlout added.

"Oh! I left my backpack back in the zoo. You guys go on ahead," Hiccup suddenly said backing away, "I'll catch up to you!" He finished running off almost running straight into Astrid.

A few days later Hiccup found out that Toothless loved to be scratched and if you hit a certain point under the chin, you knocked him out. Apparently the alligator had the same attributes.

Hiccup found another thing that Toothless did that was interesting. He chased light like a cat as well.

"Students!" Gobber called in detention the next day at the school, "I'd like you to meet The Terrible Terror." He said holding a long haired house cat.

"We're training with a house cat why?" Snotlout asked looking at the seemingly harmless animal skeptically.

Gobber smirked and placed the cat on the ground, "House cats can cause quite a lot of damage, you'd be surprised."

"Ha!" Tuffnut laughed kneeling down slightly, "It's like that size of my-" At that moment, Terror leapt into the air with a screech and started clawing at Tuffnut. Hiccup then took that moment to grab his keys and angle the light from the sun so that it made a little light on the ground. Terror, seeing that, jumped off of Tuffnut and started to follow that all the way back into his carrier. "Wow," Tuffnut said to Astrid rubbing his now throbbing nose, "He's better at this surviving stuff than you ever were." Astrid said nothing, but she did glare at him.

Later that day Astrid went to the gym to try and work out her frustration. As she made another roundhouse kick she got a glimpse of outside. Freezing she looked out the window only to see Hiccup staring at her and carrying a large bundle. Without another word he started down the street again at a faster pace so she hurried out the door, but by the time she made it outside he was already gone. Letting out a cry of frustration all she could do was go back to her work out.

After shaking off Astrid, Hiccup went straight to the cove. He was sure he had figured out the fin problem and was hooking up the contraption to Toothless while the dragon once again ate a barrel full of fish. After that was done Hiccup took Toothless to one of the hills that had a very strong air current. He tied a rope to the dragons harness then to an old tree stump and started to practice with the new fin. Every new position he found, he wrote down on the cheat sheet. They did that for a while until a rather large gust of wind broke the rope and sent them flying backwards. As Toothless picked himself up and Hiccup went with him, did the young man realize the hook was closed and they were stuck. "Oh great." he said as he tried to free himself. Sighing he picked himself back up and they went back to work. There was only one place he could fix this and there was no way he could go there during the day.

Once night time rolled around, Hiccup and Toothless made their way to the school and using the door that Gobber always left unlocked for emergencies, Hiccup started trying to get the hook fixed. As he was doing that Toothless saw a large bin and thinking there was fish in it he stuck his head in. When he was sorely disappointed he pushed it over making a loud banging sound. Hiccup thought nothing of it until, "Hello?" Hiccup cringed. That was Astrid's voice. Why out of every person on the Earth did it have to be Astrid!? "Hello?" She asked again coming closer. "Is someone there?" Thinking quickly Hiccup put one of the aprons on to cover up his riding vest and opened the door stepping out and quickly closing it.

Astrid took a startled step back, but he was too nervous to let her talk. "Hi Astrid, hi Astrid, hi Astrid." Hiccup said floundering for something to say. "What brings you here... to the school... so late?"

"I forgot my gear." Astrid said shouldering her bag. She then added, "But I should be asking _you_ that. Normally I don't care what people do, but you're acting weird." It was then that Toothless decided he wanted to leave so he pulled on the line a bit making Hiccup grunt and try to hold his belt before it come off. "Well weirder." Astrid amended. Toothless then pulled hard enough that he pulled Hiccup through the doors and to the outside. Astrid once again tried to see what he was doing, but they were quicker, going around the back and running back to the cove.

**..::-::..**

Stoick sighed as he made his way to his office. It was very tiring trying to get everything done and trying to make everyone happy. Apparently some of the experiments were failing miserably. The test subjects weren't taking to the tests and they still hadn't found the escaped test subject. That was when Gobber walked in with a smile on his face, "I trust everything's going well?"

"Not even close." Stoick said not bothering to look up.

"Oh lovely." Gobber said flopping into a chair.

"I hope everything went okay here." Stoick said wanting to change the subject.

"Well if you mean your parenting troubles are over with than yeah, everything is good." Gobber said with a smile. Stoick looked at him clearly not believing him so Gobber reached over and started typing away at his computer, "Here let me show you what your boy did last Tuesday." Finally they reached YouTube and Gobber clicked away until he pulled up a video that looked like Hiccup next to a mountain lion. Stoick gave him a look but Gobber offered nothing but pressing play.

In the short video it showed Hiccup and a young blonde woman hiding behind a rock. They shared a few words before the woman got up and started running away. The camera followed her and after a few minutes she started to charge at the animal only to stop a few seconds later with a bewildered look on her face. The camera quickly zoomed in on Hiccup where he was cowering somewhat off to the side while the mountain lion was sleeping next to him, tongue out of the side in complete bliss. The crowed started to cheer and the camera started to bounce slightly as it turned to a pimple face young man smiling. "He freaking did it again, man! He won!" the pimple face said before turning back to a very angry blonde girl glaring daggers at Hiccup who in turn looked like he wanted to run and hide from her.

Gobber then pressed the stop button and smiled. "He's been like that the whole time. That boy is incredible. The whole school found out about it and followed us to the zoo." Gobber explained.

"Hiccup?" Stoick asked unbelievingly.

"Who would have thought it aye?" Gobber continued happily, "He just has this way with the beasts."

"Won?" Stoick went on confused, but a smile appearing on his face nonetheless.

Gobber smiled, "Oh I made it a contest that whoever won the training so to speak gets a military scholarship… that you give away." Stoick just looked at him.

**..::-::..**

Hiccup rose above the clouds along the coast line once again riding Toothless' back. Today he had all day to test everything and to really start to get a hang of flying. "Okay there bud?" Hiccup asked patting the dragon before continuing, "We're gonna take this nice and slow." Looking down at his cheat sheet he started mumbling to himself, "Here we go, here we go. Position 3, no 4." Moving his foot he changed the tailfin. Feeling the new adjustment, Toothless got ready. They made the turn around flawlessly before starting to fly just a bit faster. Hiccup pulled and made sure everything was working properly and when it was he and Toothless started to dive. "It's go time, it's go time." He said to himself. Speeding up as they went, Hiccup continued to encourage his dragon to push it. They both looked up as a large bridge of sorts came into view. A little nervous they passed through, but nothing happened. Happy about the outcome Hiccup smiled, "Yes it worked!"

Pushing forward he noticed another rock formation and tried to steer Toothless away, but only succeeded in crashing him against it not used to the changes yet. "Sorry!" Hiccup said before looking up and noticing another rock pillar. He tried to get the dragon away, but failed once again. "My bad." He offered again, but Toothless simply smacked him in the face with his ear. "Yeah, yeah I'm on it." Hiccup said knowing he was in trouble. "Position 4 no 3." He said adjusting again.

They then shoot straight up into the air, "Yeah! Go baby!" Hiccup cried as Toothless pushed as hard as he could go. "Ah! This is amazing! The wind in my-" Just then the cheat sheet fell off, "Cheat sheet!" Hiccup cried grabbing the paper, "STOP!" he commanded making Toothless halt his actions, however the momentum made Hiccup keep moving thus slipping out of his harness. Hiccup's and Toothless' eyes met and both let out a scream as they realized without one another they would both fall to their deaths.

"Oh no! Oh God!" Hiccup cried trying to reach his dragon. "Okay!" he called over the wind; "You gotta kind of angle yourself!" he commanded trying to get back on Toothless. The dragon did as he was told, but he angled the wrong way. "Oh no! Come back the other way! Come back the other- OW! He cried as Toothless' tail accidentally smacked him in the face. Finally they were somewhat even and Hiccup was able to grab on the dragon. Sticking the sheet into his mouth he pulled himself onto the dragon and hook himself in.

Hiccup righted them and pulled back trying to get them both to slow down. Toothless let out a roar making Hiccup look up. Right in front of them was more rock formations. Hiccup looked at the cheat sheet to try and help him, but trying to it was impossible going this fast so he threw it and caution to the wind and let his instincts take over. Hiccup and Toothless moved as one and in no time flat they were free of that death trap and mastered the test. Taking a minute to breathe Hiccup then smiled and raised his hand into the air, "YEAH!" he cried victoriously. Toothless smiled and let loose and single shot. "Oh come on." Hiccup said tiredly as they flew right into the blaze.

**..::-::..**

Hiccup blinked again trying to get his eyebrows to stop cringing. Then suddenly Hiccup heard the sound of Toothless regurgitating, so he looked over. Sure enough his generous dragon puked up a fish head. "Uh, no thanks, I'm good." Hiccup said holding up his _very_ cooked snacks. Just then one of his snacks caught fire and before he could get it out Toothless swallowed it whole. Toothless then burped up smoke seemingly out of energy making Hiccup chuckle. "So dragons aren't so fireproof on the inside, huh bud?" he asked. Toothless just gave him a tired smile. "Here ya go bud." Hiccup continued tossing his last fish for the dragon. Toothless caught it swallowing it happily then closed his eyes and moved a little closer to him. Hiccup smiled and started to pet him, "Everything that book said about you, was wrong."

Later that night Hiccup went back to the school to pick up a few things. When he was about ready to head out his father suddenly came out of nowhere startling him, "Dad!" He cried, quickly trying to stuff his designs and drawings of Toothless in his bag along with his book. "You're back! Um Gobber's not here."

"I know." His father said softly. "I came looking for you."

"You did?" He asked finally getting the book in the bag and getting a bit confused.

"You've been keeping secrets." Stoick continued making Hiccup nervous.

Had he found out? He decided to play dumb. "I- I have?"

"Just how long did you think you could keep this from me?" Stoick asked eyeing his son.

"I don't know what you're-"

"Nothing happens here that I don't know about!" Stoick said roughly, cutting Hiccup off.

"Oh?" the boy squeaked.

"So, let's talk about that beast." Stoick went on.

"Oh God." Hiccup said under his breath dropping his bag. "Dad I'm so sorry." Hiccup started floundering. "I was going to tell you, but I didn't know how and-" Once again he was cut off by his father who started laughing. Completely shaken now Hiccup decided to nervously laugh with him, "You're not upset?" He asked carefully.

"What!?" Stoick cried with a smile. "I was hoping this would happen!"

"You, you were?" Hiccup asked skeptically.

"Just wait until you go on your first mission and when you fire your first gun! What a feeling!" Stoick cried happily smacking his son encouragingly and unintentionally knocking him to the ground. "You really had me going there son! The worst Viking the Haddocks had ever seen, Lord knows it was rough, I almost gave up on you, but you were holding out on me! Thank the lord!" Hiccup looked at his father slightly hurt by his words, but chose to not say anything about it. "With you doing so well, we finally have something to talk about." He added softly smiling at his son. Hiccup stood and looked at him. He wanted to tell him and he wanted to talk to him, but he actually had no way of really explaining how he did any of that without revealing Toothless. So instead he just stayed silent and awkwardly looked around when his father moved a bit closer to try and get him to talk.

Somewhat getting the picture Stoick started, "Oh well I brought you something." He began pulling out something then handing it to Hiccup.

Hiccup looked at it; it was a dog tag that read Valerie Haddock. He looked up in slight confusion. Stoick smiled, "It was your mothers." He told him, "After duty, she always kept it in her bra." Hiccup recoiled some in disgust, but smiled when his father continued, "Aw she would have wanted you to have it. Matching set." He added pulling out his own that had two. "Keeps her… keeps her close, ya know." He said softly. "Wear it proudly." Stoick continued, "You deserve it. You've held up you're end of the deal."

"Yeah…" Hiccup began feeling guilty and awkward. Finally he decided to end it, "Oh I'm really tired." Hiccup said stretching his arms and faking a yawn.

"Yes okay, good talk." Stoick said stepping back.

"I'll see you back at the house and uh thanks for the dog tags." Hiccup said as he and his father started backing away from one another going to their own cars.

"Yes, yes, enjoy the tags." Stoick agreed awkwardly, "Goodnight." With that he turned a corner and sighed placing his hands on his hips, Hiccup unknowingly mirroring him. Stoick then left, but not without tripping over a few things first.

**..::-::..**

"Attention everyone! Attention!" Stoick said the next day getting everyone's attention. They were all in the cafeteria waiting to hear who officially won the scholarship. "I just wanted you all to know that no one is more surprised or more proud of my son then I." He continued looking down at Hiccup. "So I wanted to take this time to let everyone know that Hiccup will be joining the military when he graduates with a full scholarship!" Everyone broke into cheers as Hiccup smiled awkwardly. He really didn't want to join the army and now that he had Toothless, he couldn't leave the dragon alone to get captured. As the cheers continued many people came up to him to congratulate him.

"Well done Hiccup!"

"Way to go dude!"

"You must be so happy!"

Hiccup smiled, but didn't have the heart to tell anyone that he wanted none of it. All he could see was the angry face of Astrid and the proud face of his father.


	7. Chapter 7

Okidoki! Back on track you're all soooo lucky! ;) I like this chapter and many of you have been wondering how I was going to bring in the Red Death. Well here ya go! XD Enjoy and as always leave a review pretty please!

Also really fast, Guest. You said that I needed to have a disclaimer on top. I generally forget about them, because to me they're not really needed. I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if I owned HTTYD, right? XD I don't mean to be rude, I just really see a point. :) With that being said on with the story!

* * *

"Alright bud, you and me! We are so out of here." Hiccup called carrying the bag of supplies. "We're taking a little vacation… forever." The boy sighed as he placed the bag down and went to check that he had everything he needed. When the sound of scraping was heard he snapped his head up only to see Astrid sitting there on the rock, sharpening a hunting knife. Startled he took a few steps back and started to stutter, "Uh, Astrid! Astrid, what… what are you doing here?" he finally said trying to sound casual, but failing miserably.

Astrid carelessly dropped the rock she had been using and looked at the boy before jumping down and holding the large knife threateningly at him. "I want to know what's going on." She demanded walking up to him.

"Going on?" Hiccup asked stupidly taking steps back to try and avoid her.

"No one just gets as good as you do or suddenly loses all their dorky-ness overnight." She continued ignoring his comment. "Start talking. Are you training with someone," she suddenly grabbed hold of his riding vest, "It better not involve _this_."

"Yes, yes I know, this looks really bad, but if you'll-" Hiccup began, but was cut off when a rustling was heard getting both their attentions. Astrid looked over to the sound and Hiccup's heart started to speed up. He knew it was Toothless and he knew he couldn't let her find him. So quickly he ran in front of her as she started making her way towards , "Well you got me!" he lied, walking in front of her trying to stop her from moving and seeing. "I've been making… outfits! I want to be a designer! So now you know." He said taking her hand and placing it on his chest trying desperately to get her attention. "Drag me back, here we go- OW!" he cried as she finally got fed up with him and took his hand and pulled it back behind his head, sending him to the ground. "Why would you do that!?"

"_That_ was for the lies." Astrid told him, glaring down at him before plunging her foot into his stomach causing him further pain. "And _that_ was for everything else." Suddenly there was a loud roar and Astrid snapped her head up to see a large black animal racing right for them. Her eyes widened and her heart sped up as fear gripped her, "Hiccup run! Run!" she yelled about ready to throw her knife at the animal.

"NO!" Hiccup cried getting to his feet, ripping the knife out of her hand, throwing it away and stepping in front of the creature all in one swoop. Astrid fell to the ground absolutely terrified and shocked as Hiccup spoke, "Easy, she's a friend." That seemed to pacify the creature some as it stopped charging, but Hiccup had to hold it back by its head while it growled at Astrid. "You scared him." Hiccup said finally looking at her.

Astrid somehow found her voice and her legs as she stood, "I scared him?" After a mere second she added, "Who is _him_?"

The creature or dragon as she realized stopped trying to move and sat there, though not happily as Hiccup spoke, "Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, _Astrid_." 'Toothless' hissed menacingly at her which only hardened her resolve. She ran. Hiccup deadpanned, "Duh, duh, duh. We're dead." He said drily. Toothless however did not care. That girl was gone and he was going back to sleep. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're going?"

**..::-::..**

Astrid ran as fast as she could. She had to get back to the town and tell someone. There was a real dragon and Hiccup had lost his mind. That was relatively her only thought when she was all of a sudden lifted into the air with someone's clawed foot on her shoulder. "Oh! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" she yelled before letting out a scream as they went higher until finally Astrid was dropped onto a tree branch way too high off the ground and the dragon _with Hiccup on its back_ landed on top of the tree bending it badly. All rational thinking and reality went out the window the moment she saw that dragon so the only thing she had left was her anger and plenty of it. "Hiccup!" she snapped as she dangled for her life on that very strong tree. "Get me _down_ from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain." Hiccup said pleadingly.

"I am _not_ listening to _anything_ you have to say!" She yelled back trying to get onto the actual tree.

"Then I won't speak." Hiccup went on undeterred. "Just let me show you." Astrid ignored him. "Please Astrid." He asked again. Realizing there was no other way; she sighed and pulled herself up onto the branch. When she went to get on the dragon it growled at her in warning, but when it didn't do anything else and Hiccup wasn't acting on it, she grabbed the saddle. Hiccup smiled at her and offered her a hand up, but she just pushed it away before getting on.

She moved back away from him as far as she could and refused to even touch him, "Now get me down." She commanded.

Hiccup leaned over and gently tapped the dragon's head, "Toothless, down. _Gently_." Toothless opened his wing span and gently started to float into the air. "See?" Hiccup said with a smile looking back at her, "Nothing to be afraid of." Not a second later Toothless shot into the air so fast it knocked them both back. Astrid started screaming, knowing her life was coming to an end while Hiccup tried a more diplomatic solution. "Toothless! What is wrong with you?! Bad dragon!" Still screaming Astrid started to slip off the saddle so she desperately grabbed onto Hiccup using her arms and her legs. They finally leveled out and Hiccup smiled nervously at the slightly hyperventilating woman behind him. "He's uh… he's not usually like this-" Toothless closed his wings and leaned forward. "Oh no." He knew what that meant. Astrid let out another scream as the dragon dived then weaved in and out of the forest sometimes making the branches scratch their faces. "Toothless what are you doing!? We need her to like us!" Hiccup said desperately. Toothless ignored him and went straight up into the sky again then started spinning. "And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile." Hiccup continued dryly.

"Okay! Okay!" Astrid cried clinging to Hiccup with her eyes shut tight. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off this thing!" Toothless looked back at her slightly and getting what he wanted, he opened his wings and stopped their fall at once. Astrid let out one last squeak as they were jerked to a halt.

Finally flying gently, Hiccup risked a look back at Astrid who was still holding onto him tightly, and directed Toothless upward. Sensing the change in the way they were flying Astrid slowly opened her eyes. She gently untangled her legs from Hiccup and looked around in awe as they flew through the clouds. It was amazing. They were _in_ the clouds and as they continued to fly Astrid plucked enough courage to remove one of her hands from Hiccup's shoulder and put it into the cloud above them. The sensation was wonderful! She really didn't feel anything, but how cold it was and water was slowly collecting on her hand, but she couldn't stop. She smiled and lifted both her hands into the cloud as Toothless led them father into the sky.

He took them up above the cloud bank where it was dark because of the setting sun. Above them Astrid and Hiccup saw billions of stars and a few shooting stars where normally they wouldn't be able to because of the smog of the city. They stayed in the sky for a long time and by the time they reached the city, the sun had long since set. Astrid looked on as her breath caught in her throat. It was beautiful! Toothless smiled back at her as he saw her smile and she couldn't help the feeling of happy contentment swell in her. Subconsciously she wrapped her arms around Hiccup and hugged him as she placed her head on his shoulder and smiled.

Hiccup on the other hand noticed right away and couldn't help his own smile and how his heart started to flutter. Flying over the city Toothless took them again over the woods and further away. They all enjoyed the feeling of freedom and the evening summer air as they continued to fly into the night.

"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool." Astrid finally said, "It's amazing… He's amazing." She added with a loving pat on Toothless' side. "So… what now?" She continued. "Hiccup, you aren't seriously planning on _keeping_ this dragon are you? Besides other problems with that, your _father_ is the _general_."

Hiccup sighed, "Don't remind me." Suddenly Toothless veered sharply to the left taking the teens with him. "Toothless what's happening?" Hiccup asked quickly. The dragon ignored him and kept flying.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked nervously. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure, Toothless is scared of something?" He answered.

"Of what?"

Hiccup ignored her as his surroundings started to look familiar. "Wait a minute." He said softly.

"What?" Astrid asked as they flew past a large fence.

"I recognize this place." Hiccup answered, "This is a military base. Base 32. It's the base my father works at."

"What a minute," Astrid began, "How do you know where a military base is. Don't they normally like push you into the back of a black SUV and blind fold you?"

Hiccup chuckled, "That's only in the movies… They have to have your permission before they blind fold you." He added softly making Astrid look at him sharply. "Anyway, I've been here before because I work here occasionally." Toothless then took that moment to find a large tree near the forest line of the fence.

"Oh." Astrid said simply then spoke once more as something occurred to her, "Hiccup, if this is a military base then… where is everyone? Aren't there supposed to be guards or something?"

Hiccup nodded, "Yeah, now that you mention it, where are all the sentries?" Suddenly there was a loud explosion and Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless watched in shock and horror as a giant monster came out of the ground.

"What is that?" Astrid breathed, eyes widening in fear.

"SHOOT IT! SHOOT IT!" Men cried as shoots of bullets rang in the air.

"I guess we know where the sentries are." Hiccup said to himself as the thing kept getting bigger and escaping from the base. The soldiers were doing their best, but the monster was just too big and it finally cleared the now destroyed base and was… coming straight for them. "Okay bud, we gotta get out of here." Hiccup said leaning down towards Toothless. The monster's head snapped towards them and it narrowed its small eyes then opened its mouth. "Now!" Hiccup cried and Toothless jumped into the air just as fire, real fire, was shot at them.

Finally far enough away from the thing Astrid spoke, "That explains Toothless." She said hugging Hiccup both for safety and comfort. "Either the government made them or found them and were doing experiments on them."

"That might explain why that thing was so big." Hiccup agreed, "Something they gave him might not have agreed with him."

"We have to tell your dad, or the police." Astrid continued.

"Astrid we can't." Hiccup told her, "They'll kill Toothless if they find out about him. We… we have to think this through, carefully."

"Hiccup," Astrid began appalled, "We just saw a giant monster escape from a military base that they couldn't contain and it was headed straight for the city and you want to keep it a secret?! To protect your pet _dragon_? Are you serious!?"

"Yes."

Astrid's eyes widened when she heard that. She couldn't see his face, but his _command_ made it very clear that he was serious. Slightly taken aback she simply said, "Okay."

The ride home was silent and pleasant and when they finally got back, Hiccup landed Toothless in Astrid's backyard as gently and quietly as he could before looking behind his shoulder. Astrid was resting against his back sound asleep and he couldn't help the caring smile that came when he saw her. She had fallen asleep on the way back despite what she had said, but he knew better. So telling Toothless to stay still as quietly as he could, he kept a hand on Astrid's shoulder so she didn't fall off as he slipped off then gently took her off the dragon.

Astrid's eyes fluttered open as she felt arms gently holding her up as her feet were placed on the ground. She unconsciously placed her hands on Hiccup's chest to steady herself as she was still tired. "Sorry to wake you." he said quietly.

Astrid looked up at him still half asleep. '_He's got really pretty eyes._' She thought then blinked into wakefulness. '_Where did _that_ come from and… when have I ever had to look _up_ at Hiccup?_'

"We're back." Hiccup continued, still holding her just in case.

"Oh." Astrid breathed still waking up, then rubbed her eyes of sleep and looked around. "We're… in my backyard." She said simply.

Hiccup shrugged, "You looked so tired I just couldn't wake you."

"Oh." She said again, but that was it. Instead she just stood there holding one of her arms subconsciously for comfort thinking hard.

Hiccup was about to say something when he noticed her somewhat scared look. "Astrid, what's wrong?" he asked taking a step towards her.

Astrid looked up at him, not sure what to think. She was feeling things she had never felt before; venerable, unsure, scared. She found it strange that she was looking towards Hiccup for comfort… again. "Hiccup… what are we going to do?"

"I don't know." He said knowing what she was talking about. Then he looked at her. Seeing her face fill with fear was strange to him. Astrid never showed fear and seeing this new side of her made Hiccup want to protect her. So he took another step towards her and placed a hand on her arm and offered her a reassuring smile. "Just give me until tomorrow. Hopefully I'll think of something."

Astrid nodded and they fell into a somewhat awkward silence. Desperately wanting to do something Astrid like and to break the silence, she suddenly punched him in the arm. "OW!" Hiccup cried still managing to be quiet. "What was that for?!" he snapped.

"That was for kidnapping me." She said simply. Hiccup, while rubbing his sore arm looked over to his dragon, which was drinking from the pond water, and made a gesture that seemed to say 'that was your fault, so why am I getting into trouble?' The dragon's reply was a snort 'get over it'. Hiccup turned back to Astrid scowling slightly and before she thought better of it, she pushed her bangs out of her face and grabbed his shirt. He cringed thinking she was going to hit him again, but instead she kissed him on the cheek. It was over as soon as it started, but Hiccup was so shocked he didn't even move. Astrid now very shy looked away from him and started to fiddle with her necklace. "That was for… everything else." She said softly before running off to her back door, but not before glancing one last time at him then shutting the door.

Hiccup stared after her for a few minutes, an understanding smile washing over his face before Toothless walked up to him and looked at him. "What are you looking at?" he asked suddenly defensive. Toothless shook his head then looked over at the closed door. Hiccup then sighed, "Come on, bud. Let's go home." Toothless nodded and lowered himself to the ground. As Hiccup got on he glanced over to the Hofferson's pond and sighed, "And now we owe Astrid a new pond complete with fish." He then grimaced, "I can't believe you ate goldfish!" Toothless just burped.


	8. Chapter 8

Alright guys! I really excited about this chapter it is by far my fave so far! Thanks for all the reviews so far and from the last chapter, they made me happy! Keep it up! Also I realize that Stoic is really young to be a four star/five star general, but for the sake of the story I just made it that way. Anywho on with the story!

P.S. I changed the agents names. :D

* * *

Astrid closed her locker door with a sigh. She had been looking for Hiccup all morning so she could speak to him, but she still couldn't find him. She didn't have any of her classes with him until after lunch, but still. They had their lockers close enough to each other; she should have seen him by now. She had a fleeting thought that maybe he was avoiding her. She hoped that wasn't the case, but after her forwardness last night she wouldn't blame him. Then again could anyone blame _her_? How was any woman supposed to react to a _very_ romantic flight and then act like it was nothing, especially when he was being so sweet?

Astrid sighed and hit her head on her locker. "Crap." She breathed. She liked him… a lot. "Crap." It wasn't that, that was a bad thing, it was that… wasn't it the slightest bit pathetic? She wasn't overly mean to him, but she had never been particularly nice to him either. Then he shows her something incredible and a completely different side of him that's confident, sweet, kind and…

The bell rang.

Astrid sighed, she really needed to focus.

**..::-::..**

After her 5th period it was finally time for lunch. She headed into the lunch room seeing her friends sitting at their usual table. Looking around and still seeing no sign of Hiccup she went and got her lunch then sat down. Snotlout was going on about something stupid and trying once again to impress her, but Astrid couldn't care less. Finally she saw a certain mop of auburn hair walking away from the food line and her face lit up.

"Hiccup!" she called happily and hurried over to him. Astrid ignored how the whole room seemed to quiet as she willingly and happily went over to talk to him. It was an anomaly that had yet to be experienced in the whole of their high school career.

Hiccup, who either didn't notice or didn't care, probably the latter, smiled at her as she walked up to him. "Oh, hey Astrid." He greeted, "Uh… afternoon."

She chuckled slightly, "Afternoon." They were both silent for a minute as she followed him to a seat and they both sat down across from each other. The room was still relatively silent, still apparently in shock that she was having a conversation with the school's resident weirdo. "So, how are you holding up?" she asked referring to last night's interesting find.

Hiccup smirked and replied in his typical sarcastic way, "Oh you know, just peachy!"

Astrid smiled, glad that there wasn't any awkwardness between them, then she sighed, "Yeah, I couldn't sleep last night either."

"Well I have to admit, I'm glad I'm not as crazy as I thought I was." Hiccup said moving his macaroni around his tray apparently not that hungry either. Astrid smirked, but said nothing. "Are _you_ okay?" He asked looking at her.

"I guess," she said with a shrug. "Have you… thought about it?" she continued tentatively.

Hiccup sighed, "I have and I thought about again then thought about it some more and honestly I don't see how there's anything we _can_ do about it."

Astrid looked appalled, "What?" she breathed, "Hiccup, how can you say that?!" The low hum that had started to come back stopped again as everyone turned their attention to the two once more. "We saw that thing!" she cried standing, her anger and uneasiness coming out as her voice raised.

"Exactly." Hiccup said calmly. "We both saw it and saw how big it was. They could hardly contain that thing. What makes you think that we, a couple of high schoolers, mind you, would be able to do anything?!"

"We can't just sit around and do nothing! We have to do something!" she yelled.

"What do you want me to do!?" Hiccup cried standing so quickly it shocked Astrid into her seat once more and caused the entire lunch room to gasp in shock. Hiccup standing up for himself against _Astrid_ of all people!? He was surly going to get killed! "We don't have any weapons, we have no back up, we know _nothing_ about it… I don't even know where my father is! If you have a better idea, please tell me! I'd love to help, but until then I'm not going to risk either of our lives because it's something we _have_ to do!" His rant done, Hiccup sighed and flopped into his seat resting one hand over his eyes and leaning on his elbow, his other hand resting on the table.

The whole lunch room was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Everyone was expecting Astrid to murder Hiccup. Some even pulled out their cell phones ready to call 911 if needed. However this day was full of surprises as they all soon learned.

Instead of yelling back at him or plain killing him, Astrid sighed silently then gently rested her hand above his that was resting on the table. Hiccup was too tired to flinch, but he did look at her. "I'm sorry." She said, again shocking everyone. "You're right, of course. It's just…" she sighed, "I'm not used to not doing anything. I just feel so… so useless." She finished quietly, a bit ashamed to admit it.

Hiccup smiled reassuringly at her and squeezed her hand, "I know the feeling." He finally said making her look up at him. Seeing her helpless look he couldn't help but add, "Maybe… maybe I can try and find something that would help after school." Astrid smiled back at him when another thought occurred to him. "Astrid, can you promise me something?" Astrid looked at him and nodded so he went on. "If something ever goes wrong, just make sure people don't find Toothless."

"I will." She promised then added, "Just promise me nothing will go wrong."

Hiccup opened his mouth to reply, but then suddenly the lunch room doors opened with a snap making everyone look at them. There standing in the doorway was two men dressed in black suits. They started to make their way over to where Hiccup and Astrid sat then stopped once there. "Henry, aka 'Hiccup' Horrendous Haddock III?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and looked up at them, but didn't bother to stand, "Yeah?"

"Come with us." One of them demanded.

"And you are…?" Hiccup asked seemingly unperturbed by the two men.

"We are agents Night and Mare." Agent Mare answered as the two showed him their FBI badges. "Mr. Haddock, please come with us."

"Why?" Hiccup asked still remaining in his seat.

The agents looked at each other than Agent Mare replied, "That's classified."

"Then my answer is no." Hiccup said before turning back to a shocked Astrid.

"Very well." Agent Mare said as Agent Night pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Then Henry Horrendous Haddock III, you are under arrest." Agent Night then pulled Hiccup to his feet and cuffed him as the whole lunch room gasped.

"What!?" Hiccup cried shocked. "What are the charges!?"

They started to lead him out of the room when Astrid stood as well. "Let him go!" she cried, but it fell on deaf ears.

"That's classified." Agent Mare said answering Hiccup's question making Hiccup mad.

"I have a right to know why I'm being arrested!" Hiccup protested, but they ignored him.

Astrid, now frantic looked around then spotted an apple sitting on a tray. Punching the tray, it sent the apple into the air where she caught it then threw it expertly at Agent Night's head, hitting dead on. The men whipped around and glared at her as she snapped, "Let him go! If you can't tell us why he's under arrest then I'm calling the cops!"

"We're above the police." Agent Night said with a sneer.

Astrid was about ready to snap at him when Agent Mare added, "Mr. Haddock is under arrest for suspicion of possessing stolen government property, among other charges."

"What!?" Hiccup and Astrid cried at the same time.

"Now stand down, this is government business." Agent Mare continued.

Astrid was livid, "Well your 'government business' can kiss my-"

"Astrid, stop." Hiccup said suddenly, making all her anger fade as she looked at him.

"What?" she asked confused.

Hiccup sighed, "Just don't. You'll get into trouble too."

"But Hiccup-"

"I'll be fine." Hiccup interrupted trying to give her a reassuring smile but failing as he was shoved out of the room.

He never did promise her.

**..::-::..**

Stoick was not happy. First he finds out that Experiment RD02 or the 'Red Death' as some of the men had dubbed it, had escaped, completely destroyed Base 32, they had no idea how to stop it and that it was headed straight for the city. Next he found out his son was arrested for several high charges and that he stole Experiment NF01, aka 'Night Fury' (he had no idea who came up with these names, probably Gobber,) and has had it living at their house for over 4 months! Stoick already took care of taking it back, but seeing as how the base had been destroyed, they had to house it in the city, under strict guard of course. Now he was on his way to retrieve his son from questioning, luckily the boy had refused to answer any questions and demanded a lawyer. At least he had taught him that much. The only reason Stoick even _knew_ about Hiccup was because Gobber had gotten wind of what was happening and called him not to mention Hiccup was still technically a minor.

Finally he reached the interrogation room and opened the doors. There he saw his son sitting in the steal chair with two government agents hovering over him and two soldiers in the corner. They all looked up at him and Stoick saw his son literally pale in front of him.

The now five star general said nothing just grabbed his son by the arm and dragged him out of the room and down a hall until they reached one of the many offices. Knowing they wouldn't be disturbed in there he shoved Hiccup into the room and said the first thing that fell out of his mouth before slamming the door shut. "I should have known; I should have seen the signs!"

"I know!" Hiccup cried grabbing his head in frustration, "This is all so messed up!"

Whirling around to face his son, his face red with anger Stoick snapped, "We had a deal! You could stay here and not have to travel with me if you stayed out of trouble!"

"I know! I know!" Hiccup said urgently.

"And what about all that training with Gobber!? And the deal we made there?! What was all that?! A lie?! A trick to cover up what you were really doing!?" Stoick went on still livid.

"No of course not!" Hiccup cried, "But, this isn't as bad as you think it is!" He continued desperately trying to explain himself.

"Not as bad as I think!?" Stoick roared, "Henry you've been arrested by the government! The charges are breaking into a government facility, stealing government property and evading capture! What am I supposed to think!?"

"You're supposed to believe me!" Hiccup cried, "I never did any of those things!" Stoick huffed and started to pace. "I never broke into anything, I've never stolen anything in my life and I wasn't even aware they were looking for me! And when they found me I was at school! In the cafeteria! Not exactly a prime hide out!"

"That's not the point!"

"My innocence's isn't the point!?" Hiccup asked angrily still managing an air of sarcasm.

"That dragon was not yours to begin with! You had no right to take him! He belonged to the government!" Stoick went on unfazed.

"I _found_ him!" Hiccup snapped, "In the woods behind our house! I wasn't even looking for him-I didn't even know he existed!" Hiccup suddenly froze looking at his father as realization set in, "You… you knew about him, didn't you?" he finally asked quietly. Stoick said nothing, but glared down at his son before turning away from him and starting to pace again. "You've known about Toothless from the beginning." Hiccup watched his father pace as anger started to build up, "You knew about everything! The experiments, all of it!"

"He's a dragon!"

"He's an innocent animal that _you_ hurt!" Hiccup roared back, never in his life had he ever spoken to his father that way or so mad he was starting to see red. "You crippled him! He can _never_ fly on his own again! Without me he could die!"

Starting to see his son's side, but still too furious to acknowledge it Stoick snapped,  
"You broke the law!"

"How!?" Hiccup continued getting in his father's face, "By making a friend!? Saving an injured animal's _life_!?"

"I don't have time for this!" Stoick snapped turning away, "I've got to take care of that monster, RD02 before it reaches the city."

Momentarily snapped out of his own furry for the safety of his father, Hiccup remembered the giant dragon, "You can't fight that thing." Stoick ignored him and got on a face that Hiccup knew all too well. Hiccup's heart started to race, "No dad, you don't understand, it's bigger than anything you've ever faced before. Your weapons won't do anything. I promise you can't win this one-" Stoick started to walk away and Hiccup became desperate. "Dad no..." Seeing that it wasn't doing anything he tried one last time, "For once in your life would you please just listen to me!?" He cried grabbing onto his father's large arms to try and stop him.

Stoick merely shoved him off, unintentionally slamming the boy into the desk. "You've completely betrayed my trust. You're no Viking… you're not my son." Stoick said his voice breaking some looking at the boy before he stormed out of the room slamming the door shut.


	9. Chapter 9

Alright guys here we go again with another chapter! Thanks for all the reviews and I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Also there was a little question about how Stoic found out where Toothless was and how the government found out about it, but in all fairness, its the government! They pretty much know everything already right? XD Anywho onward we go!

* * *

Hiccup walked sadly towards the cafeteria escorted by one of his father's many soldiers. The man was a nice person, just following orders, but he couldn't help, but feel like a prisoner, which he probably was. After their little talk, Stoick ordered the city to be evacuated, but of course only so many could escape and the rest they had sent to the local high schools to hole up in while they waited for the all clear. By now everyone knew something was coming even if they didn't know what that something was. Hiccup, of course had been sent back to Berk Academy which was where he was now. Finally the soldier opened the cafeteria doors and Hiccup was assaulted with the sad looks of his classmates and their families. After he had walked inside the soldier turned and left him alone, leaving him to fend for himself. There were a couple of soldiers there, but mostly it was just the parents and older teens that were taking care of everyone, passing out blankets, water bottles, energy bars, survival stuff. As Hiccup's eyes traveled through the faces he met one he wished he hadn't.

Astrid looked up at him, a mixture of worry and relief on her beautiful face. Unable to face her, Hiccup sighed and turned away heading towards a somewhat secluded window that allowed him to look out and see some of the troops movements.

They were heading out.

"So…" Astrid began coming to stand next to him, "I overheard the soldiers talking. They said that, you're father disowned you." She paused for a minute then went on. "So now you've lost your best friend, your father, and that same father is leading hundreds of men and women and himself to their inevitable deaths."

Hiccup sighed, "Thank you for summing that up." Astrid was about to say something when Hiccup went on, "Why couldn't I have told someone about that dragon when I found him in the woods?" he asked no one in particular. "It would have been better for everyone…"

"Yep." Astrid agreed turning to look at him, "The rest of us would have. So why didn't you?" Hiccup just looked away so she asked more forcefully, "Why didn't you?"

Hiccup shrugged, "I don't know…I couldn't."

"That's not an answer."

"Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?" He asked exasperated.

"Because I want to remember what you say, right now." Astrid pressed.

"Oh for the love of-" Hiccup cried throwing his hands into the air and turning to face her, "I was weak! I was coward! I was afraid people would lock me up! Think I was even more a freak then they already thought of me! So I wouldn't tell anyone!"

"You said wouldn't that time." Astrid said smirking at the slip of the tongue.

Hiccup huffed, "What difference does it make!? I wouldn't! The first person to ever see a real dragon and I wouldn't tell someone about it!" He turned away ashamed and angry at himself.

"First to ride one though." Astrid said smiling gently at him. Seeing him straighten slightly in understanding she went on, "So…"

Hiccup turned to face her again, "So I didn't tell anyone because I knew that if I told someone he would be locked away and subjected to experiments and… he looked scared. He looked as scared as I was. I looked at him and I saw myself."

"I bet he's really scared now." Astrid said looking out the window at the now deserted streets. "So what are you going to do about it?" she asked looking back at him.

Hiccup shrugged, "I don't know, probably something stupid."

She smirked, "Good, but you've already done that…"

Hiccup's face started to light up as an idea came to him, "Then something crazy." He said smiling at her before running off.

Astrid smiled, "That's more like it."

**..::-::..**

Stoick walked along with Gobber as they and a dozen other men locked the doors to the warehouse. "Um listen Stoick, I know you're always a man with a plan," Gobber began following behind his best friend. "But some of the men, not me, were wondering what we were going to do."

"Find that monster and kill it." Stoick said darkly.

"Right, the old Viking fall back, the way-"

"Shush." Stoick said suddenly cutting Gobber off. Looking around he then said, "Men to your stations!"

**..::-::..**

Hiccup ran towards the gym doors and was about to leave when a soldier stopped him. "Sorry Hiccup, but no one is allowed to leave the gym for their own safety."

Hiccup inwardly sighed, he forgot about them in his haste so he took a deep breath, "I have to use the restroom." He lied plainly.

The soldier sighed and nodded his head. Turning to his fellow guard they shared a look and he opened the door, "Follow me." Hiccup nodded his head and started to do just that. After a few feet he ducked into a classroom and waited for a while. When nothing happened Hiccup looked around just to make sure and when still nothing happened, Hiccup booked it down the hall and towards the computer lab. Moving quickly he went to one of the many computers and turned it on. What he needed to do was login to the Military to find out where they were keeping Toothless. The problem was; he wasn't _that_ good of a hacker. If only he could-

"If you're looking to break in, I'd go through the main frame itself."

Hiccup spun around and stood only to see Astrid and the gang walking up to him. Fishlegs smirking indicating his earlier comment.

"You were wise to seek the help from the world's most deadly weapon." Tuffnut said trying to sound tough as he walked up to him. Confused Hiccup said nothing so Tuffnut clarified, "It's me."

Hiccup was going to say something, but Tuffnut was pushed out of the way suddenly and Snotlout came into view, "I _love_ this plan!" he cried before his face was punched and Ruffnut stepped up.

"You're crazy!" she said before going in far too close to Hiccup's face for comfort. "I like that." she added softly.

"Um…" Hiccup began, but was saved by Astrid as she pulled Tuffnut away from him.

Hiccup exhaled in relief, "So what _is_ the plan?" Astrid asked smiling at him.

Hiccup smiled at her as well, she really was turning out to be one of his best friends. "The plan is to get Toothless back, save the city and stop that giant monster."

Astrid nodded as Snotlout semi raised his hand, "Um yeah." he began making all eyes turn on him, "Question. Are we really going to try and break out a real _dragon_ out of a Military base and go against every order we've ever been given?"

Hiccup smirked, "Yep."

Snotlout smirked as well, "Alright. So what are we going to do?"

"We need to find Toothless and get him out." Hiccup answered.

"I can find him!" Fishlegs cried jumping into the chair and typing away.

Hiccup nodded, "Alright, Fish you find Toothless. Then I need you to find out everything about that monster. Everything the Military knows, we need to know." Fish nodded and continued his work, "Also I think that monster is called 'The Red Death' dragon or RD02 as my dad put it. Get as much information about it as you can and relay it to us."

"Got it!" Fishlegs cried.

"Um how are we supposed to get info from him?" Tuffnut asked.

"Yeah," Ruffnut added, "Seeing as how none of our cell phones work."

"Wait!" Snotlout cried, "I'll be right back!" He then ran out of the room and it only gave everyone enough time to look at one another before he ran back in. "I got them!" he cried again.

"Got what?" Astrid asked somewhat tiredly.

"Walkie-talkies!" Snotlout cried proudly, "I borrowed them from my dad! They're long range and will reach from here to the outskirts of town!"

Hiccup smiled, "Great job Snotlout!" Taking them he turned them on and adjusted them then handed one to Fishlegs.

"Borrowed?" Astrid asked with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk.

"What!?" Snotlout asked defensively, "I _was_ going to give them back," Astrid smirked, "Well not anymore!"

"Alright," Hiccup said drawing everyone back to him. "Let's go."

**..::-::..**

Stoick and Gobber stared up at the giant monster as it came lumber towards the city and constant fire was doing nothing to stop it. Stoick's eyes widened, "Lord help us." He said softly. "Panzers!" He cried making the machines fire. This only seemed to piss the dragon off.

"To the cars!" One man cried.

"No! No!" Stoick said trying to stop his men. That was when the dragon roared and used its fire breath setting everything around it on fire including buildings.

"Smart that one." Gobber commented walking beside Stoick as things exploded around them.

"I was a fool!" Stoick said to himself as he was walking away. Turning to his captain he said, "Retreat to the far side of the harbor." The man nodded before walking away calling orders. "Gobber go with the men." Stoick ordered.

"I think I'll stay with you in case you're thinking of doing something crazy." Gobber insisted.

"I can give them some more time if I can give that thing something to hunt." Stoick said moving to walk away, but Gobber caught his arm.

"Then I can double that time." He said making the general smile. Smirking they both ran forward and started to get its attention arguing over who it was going to fight. Just when the dragon decided he was going to kill them both a large explosion happened knocking its head forward.

Then just as suddenly a rope came up over the dragons head and people started to slide down the ropes and land in front of them. "Hold it tight!" Hiccup cried looking past everything to a building where Snotlout was pulling a large rope. Ruff and Tuff were on another building pulling the rope tight keeping a large something above the dragons head.

"Every bit the bore headed, stubborn Viking you ever were." Gobber commented as he, Stoick, and many of the soldiers watched Hiccup command the small group, but instead of getting angry Stoick looked mildly impressed as he nodded his head.

"Fishlegs break it down!" Hiccup commanded over the walkie-talkie.

"_Alright!_" Fishlegs said, his voice coming through, "_Looks like heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing! Steer clear of both! Small eyes, large nostrils; relies on hearing and smell._"

"Okay, Snotlout stay there and wait for my signal. Ruff, Tuff find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad." Hiccup added with an evil smirk.

"That's my specialty!" Ruffnut said smiling.

"Since when?!" Tuffnut argued, "Everyone knows I'm more irritating! See!" he said before pulling his face apart and making a weird sound.

Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "Just do what I told you! I'll be back as soon as I can!" Hiccup said before he and Astrid ran off.

"Don't worry we got it covered!" Snotlout said with a smile.

"Over weight lizard!" Ruff yelled to the thing.

"Sorry excuse for a chameleon!" Tuff added making them both laugh.

"_Hiccup bad news! This thing doesn't have a blind spot!_" Fishlegs cried over the walkie-talkie still typing away.

Enraged the dragon started firing at them and as they dodged they forgot the rope making Snotlout fly into the air and land on the dragon's head along with all the explosives. The blast from them sent him flying nearly off the beast, but luckily he caught himself in time.

**..::-::..**

"_Alright, the warehouse should be to your left._" Fishlegs said to Hiccup and Astrid as they ran down the walkway.

"There." Hiccup said pointing to the building on their left. They were just about to go in when all of a sudden a big explosion knocked them off their feet and they were thrown a few feet from the building.

Hiccup rolled over and got up helping Astrid to her feet as well as she spoke, "What the heck was that!?"

Just then they heard a loud roar making Hiccup's eyes widen, "Toothless!" He called. Another roar sounded as if the dragon was calling him too.

Hiccup started to run into the building, but was stopped by Astrid, "What do you think you're doing?!" She cried holding onto his arm.

"I have to get to Toothless!" Hiccup answered turning to face her.

"By going into a burning building!?" Astrid tried again.

"I have to!"

"But-"

"Astrid!" Hiccup cried grabbing onto her shoulders, "I have to get to Toothless, he could die." He took a breath, "He needs me. Now go help the others."

Astrid looked at him like she wanted to argue, but instead she sighed and said, "Be safe." Before running off to doing as she was told.

Taking another breath Hiccup then ran as fast as he could into the building. Right away he saw Toothless in some sort of cage device that kept him trapped and unable to move. He was also teetering on the edge of the blown out window leaning over the open ocean. "Toothless!" Hiccup cried before running to him. "Don't worry buddy, I'm going to get you out of here." Hiccup pulled as hard as he could and was able to release the dragon's mouth, but just as he was about to work on the other locks another explosion blew them both out the window and into the water.

After getting his bearing's some, Hiccup swam to where Toothless was then pulled and tried to get his dragon free, but lost consciousness. Toothless roared as loud as he could in the water, worried for his friend, but something then grabbed Hiccup and swam him out of the water before placing him onto the shore.

Coughing up water, Hiccup blinked and looked around blurredly, "Dad?" he asked quietly, but before he could answer he saw someone jump back into the water.

Stoick swam down as fast as he could. Finally he reached the dragon and they made eye contact. Stoick didn't take another second as he swam a bit closer and released the dragon. A certain understanding went between them and Toothless shot out of the water with Stoick in his claws, dropping him off next to his son before jumping a few paces ahead and shaking off the extra water.

Toothless then looked at Hiccup and indicated Hiccup join him. Hiccup nodded, "You got it, bud." He then raced to his dragon and hopped on hooking up to the saddle.

"Henry wait!" Stoick called grabbing his son's wrist and effectively stopping him. "I'm sorry. For- for everything."

Hiccup sighed, "Yeah me too."

"You don't have to do this." Stoick went on trying to stop him.

Hiccup gave a half smile, "We're Vikings dad, it's an occupational hazard."

Hearing that Stoick couldn't help but swell with pride and he knew needed to tell him. "I'm proud to call you my son." Stoick said letting him go albeit reluctantly.

"Thanks dad." Hiccup said so completely touched it came out as a whisper.

"Go!" Stoick ordered.

Hiccup nodded and turned back to Toothless. "Let's go!" They then shot into the air.

"He's up!" Astrid called as she raced to where everyone else was.


	10. Chapter 10

Here's another one! Just to let you know, I know it's cruelly short, but I wanted this chapter and the next to be separate it just fits better that way. You all are more than welcome to yell at me but we're almost done with the story! Yeah and nay! XD Anywho on we go!

* * *

Astrid ran to the building where the twins were, "Get Snotlout out of there!" she called up to them.

"I'm on it!" Ruffnut cried as Tuffnut did the same. They then proceeded to argue somehow managing to work at the same time. They tied one of the ropes off onto the building and threw it down to Snotlout. Snotlout ran to the head of the dragon and grabbed the rope swing off the creature just before it caught him. He slid to the ground as Ruff and Tuff joined him and they all ran off.

Astrid finished tying of another rope to try and slow the monster down, but all it did was let the beast see her. The creature narrowed its eyes at her and Astrid's heart dropped. At once she began running away so the dragon started to ignite its fire. Just as it was about to fire on her Toothless swooped down and shot at it igniting all the explosions still on the beast's head. The explosion made the thing stop in its movements momentarily, but it also caused Astrid to fly forward from the shock wave. Toothless swooped down and grabbed her just in time before she fell.

"Did you get her?" Hiccup asked trying to look over the side.

Toothless looked down at her and she smiled at him causing him to smile back at her. The dragon then set her down as gently as he could before flying off towards the other dragon.

"Go." Astrid whispered smiling at Hiccup, but scared for him at the same time.

As Toothless flew into the sky Hiccup looked back, "That thing has wings." He remarked before turning his dragon around, "Okay, let's see if it can use them." Toothless narrowed his eyes and turned in midair before diving down straight towards the huge dragon. A familiar sound came to the ears of those in  
the area before Toothless fired another shot so powerful it knocked the dragon over.

A horrible silence filled the air then as everyone stared in shock and fear as the huge dragon spread its equally vast wings and started pumping them slowly gaining momentum and rising into the air. "You think that did it?" Hiccup asked looking back behind him as the dragon roared at them quickly gaining on them as they flew into the sky. Hiccup's eyes widened slightly as he looked back at Toothless, "Well he can fly." He commented, Toothless growling in agreement before taking off into the throng of buildings and warehouses trying to keep the thing from eating them. He and Toothless weaved in-between the buildings expertly hardly noticing the cheers from his friends on the sidelines or the sizable crowd of soldiers and civilians that was now watching him and his dragon. Behind them the dragon just flew right through the buildings like they were nothing halting the cheers.

Looking up Hiccup saw the dark clouds above getting an idea, "Okay Toothless," he said looking down at his dragon, "Time to disappear!" Switching gears he angled up "Come on bud!" They soared higher and higher before Hiccup heard the distinct sound of a dragon charging its fire, "Here it comes!" he shouted in warning causing Toothless to twist into the dark clouds to avoid being hit. Finally they made it deep enough inside that the monster lost site of the smaller dragon and floated in the air looking for any sign of it, but seeing nothing.

Hiccup and Toothless stayed in the darkness silent until it was time to attack. And attack they did. Hiccup maneuvered Toothless silently though the dark clouds as Toothless fired shot after shot at the dragon's wings trying to cripple it.

The people down below watched with amazement and fright as they saw the silhouette of the monster light up within the clouds and the sounds of screeching and blasts along with growls and roars of anger. Stoick stared at the dark sky, his brow creased with worry for his son. Astrid stood beside him in no better shape, squeezing her own hands so hard it was nearly cutting off circulation.

The shots continued until finally the monster roared loud fed up with the attacks. Creating a lot of gas he fired and flew his head every which way hoping to catch the little dragon and human and destroy them.

Hiccup's eyes widened as the fire neared them, "Watch out!" he cried to his partner, but it was too late. The tail he had made was singed and destroyed. "Okay, times up." He said nervously, "Let's see if this works." He commented before angling Toothless to a dive, "Come on! Is that the best you can do!?" Hiccup yelled taunting the thing. Toothless roared and snarled at him goading the monster on as well.

The monster opened its eyes further and finally saw them. It turned its head to snap at them barely missing them. Toothless shot down diving towards the earth the huge dragon following them. Hiccup tried to readjust them slightly, but the tail was no long responding. Sensing Toothless' growing unease Hiccup added, "Stay with me buddy. We're good just a little bit longer." As they flew down they finally were freed from some of the clouds making Toothless stay in the line of vision. The monster narrowed its eyes and gathered its gas.

Knowing the sound, Hiccup leaned down to his dragon, "Hold Toothless." Finally at the last second he cried, "NOW!"

Toothless spun around and fired another shot straight in the monster's mouth. Shocked, the beast blinked and was forced to swallow, but this was its downfall. As they cleared the clouds and came back into view of the people Toothless forced himself back around and spread his wings making the wind throw him into the air barely missing the inside of the monster's mouth. The monster itself through its wings open to slow its speed, but it did no good as they were literally ripping and burning like fabric. The monster gave one last roar before it crashed a little farther into the city exploding on impact. There was a continued chain reaction of explosions which didn't bode so well for our heroes.

Hiccup and Toothless were desperately trying to escape the explosions and fire, but the tail was no longer working and with one more jerk it fell completely off. Hiccup and Toothless both looked up in horror as the huge dragon's tail came towards them, "No, no!" Hiccup cried as it soundly smacked them knocking Hiccup out and off his dragon.

Toothless turned in the air and looked at his rider and friend as he fell back towards the fire out could and defenseless to the flames. He called out to him before beating his wings as hard as he could to try and catch him before the fire did.


	11. Chapter 11

Okay my loyal followers, here is the next chapter. I put a lot into this and I intended for this to be the last chapter, but my muse came back with a vengeance and decided that I was going to write another chapter after this. :D So this is not the end! Hope you guys are happy with how this has turned out so far! Let me know! Anywho on with the story!

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Ash. Ash covered everything and fires still burned on numerous buildings. Many people were now grey with the ash that covered the area, but was quickly leaving due to the wind picking up from the coast line. Not knowing what to do, many people followed a lone figure as he moved through the ash and debris calling out a name.

"Henry! Henry!" Stoick cried racing around looking for his missing son. His heart was going a million miles an hour as his mind's eye replayed the events that happened not 10 minutes ago. Henry being slammed against that tail and falling into the flames completely knocked out.

Stoick had no idea if son was even still alive, but he wouldn't give up. As he kept looking the general couldn't help but think about his son's such leadership skills that he had never shown to anyone or that he could handle so much under pressure.

Or that he could fly a dragon so flawlessly.

Stoick was quite shocked on more levels than one, but what he found amazing the most was how the dragon and his son seemed to move as one like they could read each other's minds.

Stoick shook his head, there would be time for inquiries later. "HENRY! SON! Answer me!" Stoick turned around another corner and froze. Astrid, Gobber and a few other people almost running into him.

There not too far from them in a cleared area of the city was Toothless curled up wings wrapped around himself, eyes closed and barely breathing. Around him was ash, crumbled street and building along with a few huge dragon bones. "Henry." Stoick said before clumsily racing towards the dragon. Once Stoick was right up next to the dragon he could only see the empty saddle, destroyed and beyond repair was the tail. The dragon then rolled over onto its side revealing nothing. Stoick stared at him as horror sunk into his heart.

Seeing what Stoick was looking Astrid let out a cry of horror covering her mouth, tears shamelessly falling down her face. Gobber placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she didn't even notice she was too busy looking at the dragon, crying and praying.

Unable to stand anymore, Stoick fell to his knees and looked down to the ground, "Oh… son." Shaking his head he let the pride fall, "I did this." He muttered as more civilians and soldiers came to the area, sadness hitting them as well.

It was then Toothless woke up some. He blinked opened his eyes still out of it and trying to focus as he looked at Stoick. The man looked up tears rolling down his face, "My son," he whispered, his voice full of guilt and despair, "I'm so sorry."

Toothless looked at him for a few more seconds then looked down at his wings as he made them part revealing Hiccup in the dragons arms.

"Henry!" Stoick cried racing to him and pulling him out of the dragon's arms, disregarding the fact that he was right next to the beast. Stoick rubbed his head a bit happy beyond words before cognitive thinking came back to him and he ripped his general's hat off and threw it to the ground before he placed his ear over Hiccup chest and listened.

A faint, but steady heart beat came to him.

"He's alive!" Stoick cried his voice breaking in happiness as everyone cheered, "You brought him back alive!" he said looking at Toothless. The gang started cheering as Snotlout not so discretely wiped a tear from his eyes onto his shirt as Astrid and Gobber raced forward. Stoick placed a gentle hand on the dragon's head, "Thank you, for saving my son." He said speaking from the heart. Toothless sighed and laid his head back down.

Astrid kneeled down to where Stoick was and placed a gentle hand on Hiccup's face relieved beyond belief.

Gobber walked around to the other side and looked down at the teenager, "Well ya know, most of him."

Stoick looked up from the dragon to glare at his friend.

**..::-::..**

Toothless looked up at his partner and best friend worried that he was still asleep and the beeping creatures weren't making him better, they were only annoying Toothless. The dragon stood and walked over to the white bed looking at his friend in the white sheets the creatures beeping away. The dragon crooned and nudged his friend trying to get him to wake up, but Hiccup wouldn't move. He huffed and let out a little growl nudging Hiccup a bit harder.

Finally his friend opened his eyes making the dragon smile and pull back.

Hiccup blinked repeatedly seeing his old friend, "Hey Toothless." He said groggily. Toothless took that as an invitation to help him get up and out of the white bed. The dragon continued to gently nudge him moving him to the side, "I'm happy to see you too bud." He said with a smile as Toothless licked his face and climbed up on the bed only he misjudged where to put his paws and ended up slamming them on Hiccup's lap. Shock and pain made him shoot straight up in bed crying out.

Looking around as Toothless wiggled around like a puppy unable to hide his happiness, Hiccup noticed his surroundings, "I'm in a hospital?" he asked confused pulling at the hospital gown tied to his body and looking the few IVs in his hand. "Why am I in a hospital?" Looking at the bouncing dragon as he knocked the bed causing it to move slightly, Hiccup continued, "Why are _you_ in the hospital? Does my dad know you're here?" he asked getting nervous. Finally Toothless couldn't hold it in any longer and he raced around the room knocking the water at his side over. "Toothless!" Hiccup cried nervously looking towards the door, but nothing happened. He looked over to his dragon only to see him sitting on the window seat trying to crawl out the window. "Toothless!" he cried again getting the dragon to look at him, "Aw come on." He said as he noticed the scratch marks on the glass and couch leather. Quickly he pulled the covers off of himself and moved to get out of the bed before he froze.

Sensing Hiccup's change Toothless got down from the window seat and slowly walked up to him. Hiccup looked down at his legs and noticed the absence of half of one of them. His eyes widened and his heart stopped for a moment as a million and one thoughts ran through his head. The main was that his foot was gone.

His leg just below his knee was gone.

In its place was nothing. It was nothing, but a stump. A bit red and sore to the touch with a scar coming up the side a bit. Toothless walked towards him as Hiccup looked at him the reality slowly sinking in. Hiccup moved his feet… foot and stump off the bed and placed his foot on the cold tiled floor as his stump hung in the air. Toothless looked down at the stump and sniffed at it before looking up at Hiccup.

Hiccup was breathing a bit hard trying desperately to calm himself. As he looked up he saw, sitting on the little counter not far away was a prosthetic foot. His eyes widened slightly as it started to sink deeper. His breathing became labored again and he swallowed the horror and sadness and moved around enough to grab the leg. Hiccup took a deep breath and held the leg out like a shoe and proceeded to put it on his stump not really knowing why. The pain was almost unbearable, but Hiccup had to do this. He needed to have this strength. So once the leg was on as good as he could get, having never put one on before, Hiccup took several deep breathes and grabbed the bedside table before forcing himself to his foot and prosthetic.

Toothless was watching the whole time unsure of why Hiccup was acting so strangely. Hiccup took another deep breath and placed his prosthetic forward putting weight on it. Pain shot through his leg all the way through him, but he forced himself not to falter, although he did let out a hiss of displeasure. Holding himself a little higher Hiccup again took a deep breath and another step only this time the pain was far too much and he crumbled forward with a cry on his lips, but just as he was about to hit the ground, Toothless caught him. "Thanks bud." He said as they started walking towards the door somehow he remembered to tie his gown shut before moving forward. Hiccup could feel the pain coming from his stump but as he continued to walk towards the door with Toothless' help, the pain seemed to lessen severely.

Finally when he reached the door he pulled it open only to see a million people he didn't recognize and armed men all over the place.

Startled he shut the door quickly before turning to his dragon, "Toothless stay here." He commanded before opening the door again and stepping out into the hallway some.

Down the hallway into the reception area for this floor was his father yelling at a man who looked like a doctor, along with hundreds of other people just walking around. Some soldiers were trying to get most of them out, many of them cameras in hand Hiccup realizing they were the press. At the end of the hallway on either side were two armed guards not doing anything, but standing there guarding the entrance to his hallway.

Hiccup pressed his hand against the wall and slowly made his way down the hallway as his father's voice came to him, "That's not good enough!" Stoick snapped.

"General Haddock, please." The doctor said holding his hands out some in a calming gesture. "Your son will be fine. He inhaled a lot of smoke and sustained sufficient trauma along with his multiple injuries." Hiccup raised an eyebrow at that. All he noticed was the leg… and maybe a little pain in his side, but that was it. "We're lucky the damage wasn't worse." The doctor went on. "We've pulled him out of the induced coma he should be waking up any time now."

"You said that three days ago." Stoick growled, making Hiccup blink. How long had he been here?

"Well sir, with all due respect," the doctor said sounding a bit irritated, "He would probably recover quicker if that animal wasn't in there with him doing who knows what."

Stoick glared at the doctor, "Toothless is going to stay in there as long as he wants with Henry and is not going to change." He said warningly.

The doctor snapped, "Animals are not allowed in the hospital, unless they are a service animal!"

"Toothless is my son's service animal." Stoick said simply before adding, "And more to the point, Toothless, according to the law doesn't exist. So technically he's not in there." Stoick went on with a grin.

The doctor looked like he wanted to punch him.

Hiccup stared, "I knew it, I'm dead." He said with a shrug. His father would never have defended Toothless like that.

The comment made the two soldiers at the end of the hallway look back at him before looking back to the front. "General Stoick." One of them said causing all eyes to turn in his direction making him freeze.

"Henry." Stoick said with a warm smile.

"Hey look, the kids awake!" Someone cried making all the reporters start flashing away and asking question nonstop. Startled some and the flashes hurting his eyes Hiccup backed up against the wall holding a hand to his face to shield it.

"Get these damn reporters out of here!" Stoick shouted as more soldiers came out of nowhere and managed to get them far enough away that they weren't a distraction anymore. Stoick sighed and walked over to his son embracing him strongly, but gently remembering his condition.

Hiccup looked at his father, "Dad, what's going on?"

Stoick sighed, "Why don't we go back into your room?" he asked already leading his son down the hallway, but before they could enter the room Gobber came running up to them.

"Don't start without me." He said with a grin as they all entered the room. Toothless looked up at the males entering the room and at once went up to Hiccup and licked his face and hands happily.

"Hey bud." Hiccup said with a smile and he got back into bed strangely tired. Toothless offered him another smile before lying down on the floor next to the bed once more. Looking up at his father and mentor as they seated themselves in the only two chairs in the room, he asked, "So what happened?"

"Well after you were out, we got you to the hospital where you've been since. Toothless hasn't left your side once." Stoick said, "We started clean up and location of families, but the real story is you."

"Me?" Hiccup asked confused.

Stoick nodded, "You're a hero."

"I am?"

Gobber decided to answer, "You bet." Picking up a remote he turned the T.V. on. "Besides the fact that hundreds of people saw you're fight with the Red Death, most of those hundreds of people recorded the fight on their cell phones which are now videos on Youtube." The news reporter on T.V. was going on about how dragons were real and how Hiccup was a hero.

"But…" Hiccup began scratching his head, hating how slow he was processing all of this, "Why does everyone think I'm a hero?" he asked at last.

"You defeated a real live monster Hiccup." Stoick said with a proud smile, "Turns out all we needed was a little more of… this." He finished with a vague gesture to the teenager.

Hiccup looked at him a smile forming, "You just gestured to all of me." His father smiled warmly at him and nodded.

"Well," Gobber interrupted, "Most of you. That prosthetic is my handy work. With a little Hiccup flare thrown in. You think it'll do?"

Hiccup looked down at his leg and moved it around some, "I might make a few tweaks." he said with a smirk.

Both Gobber and his father laughed before Gobber continued with a knowing smirk, "Astrid will be happy to hear you're awake."

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked confused and happy by the statement.

"Aye." Gobber went on with a nod, "She's been in here 24-7 since you came here." His mentor informed him, "She's getting a drink now but-"

He was suddenly cut off as the door flew open, Astrid standing the doorway breathing hard like she had run all the way here, which she probably had.

Hiccup looked at her and smiled, "Hey Astrid." Astrid stood in the doorway for a few seconds breathing hard not doing anything, but stare at him. He blinked at her unsure of what to do, but as he opened his mouth to speak she raced forward and launched herself onto him, holding him tightly. Hiccup let out a grunt arms out in shock as she squeezed him, her face buried in his chest. They stayed like that for a little bit, Astrid squeezing him senseless and Hiccup awkwardly holding his arms away from her unsure of what to do. One look at Gobber and his father was no help seeing as how they wore matching grins of knowing satisfaction and making no move to help him in anyway.

Only when Hiccup heard a muffled sniff did he look back at her and placed his arms gently around her, "Astrid, are you okay?" he asked softly.

It took a few minutes, but Astrid finally pulled away, a few tears in her eyes as she smiled at him, "I'm fine Hiccup."

Then suddenly she pulled her arm back and punched his arm painfully. "Agh!" he cried reflexively.

Rubbing his arm subconsciously, he looked at her smirking face as she said, "_That_ was for scaring me."

"What-what is this?" Hiccup asked, "Is it always going to be this way with you, because-" Astrid then grabbed a hold of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. After they pulled away again Hiccup smirked, "I could get used to it."

Astrid smiled at him and pulled his hand onto hers before resting on his bed next to him.

He wasn't about to protest.

Stoick smiled at them then frowned looking at the creature asleep on the ground. Sighing he went on for the kill. "Henry, we need to talk about Toothless."

Hiccup looked up and away from Astrid at his father, "What about him?" he asked curiously.

Stoick sighed again hating what needed to be said, "I'm sorry son, but Toothless still belongs to the government."

"Dad you can't seriously-"

"It's not me, son." Stoick said cutting Hiccup off raising his hand in defense. "I'll continue to hold them off as long as I can, but I can't do it for much longer." Stoick sighed, "Toothless is government property, regardless of what you two think." He said gesturing to the boy and his dragon.

"That's going to be a problem." Astrid said, "Trying to get Hiccup away from Toothless," she shuddered, "I don't envy the person assigned to that."

Hiccup looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, "Don't you mean getting Toothless away from me?"

Astrid looked right at him, "No."

Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as Gobber chuckled, "Aye that be true. It took no less than 15 men to hold him down." He said with a smirk.

"Why did you need to hold him down and when did you?" Hiccup asked confused.

A horrible silence filled the air and everyone's eyes went wide before someone spoke, "You don't need to know." Stoick said simply avoiding the question.

"But I want to." Hiccup said, "What are you guys hiding from me?"

Astrid inhaled and looked away from him as his father sighed, "During your fight, quite a few parts of the city was destroyed and everything was very chaotic." Hiccup nodded his father going on, "When we found you we called for a medical chopper to take you to the hospital only problem was they were quite a bit ways away." Stoick took a deep breath before continuing, "Our medical unit we had on site said that your leg was in really bad condition and the infection was spreading rapidly." Hiccup stared at his father understanding slowly sinking in. "We had to amputate it there." He finally said spitting it out.

Once again silence filled the air Hiccup wanting desperately to break it, "Oh." Was all he was able to say.

"You don't remember any of that do you?" Astrid asked worriedly.

Hiccup shook his head drawing a complete blank, "Nope. Honestly the last thing I remember is seeing that big tail coming at me and Toothless. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in here."

"Good." Astrid said relieved even as Hiccup screams filled her ears once more. Astrid shook her head and turned to Stoick, "So what are we going to do about Toothless?" she asked desperate for a subject change.

Stoick seemed glad about the change as well, "I don't know, but maybe I can think of something."

"Maybe?" Hiccup asked with a slight glare.

"I'll do what I can, but for now, you need your rest," Stoick said pointedly standing, Gobber doing the same.

For one wild second Hiccup thought that Astrid was going to leave as well, but as he looked down at her she smiled at him, "I'm not going anywhere."

Hiccup smiled relieved before leaning back and closing his eyes letting glorious sleep claim his tired mind.


	12. Chapter 12

Once again it is time for another chapter! And sadly this is the last one. :( But this is a good thing to right? :') Anywho this chapter is extra long, I just had so much to put in it and I felt you guys deserved it! So without any further ado the last chapter to one of the funnest things I have ever written! XD Enjoy my friends and please leave a review at the end telling me what you guys thought of the story and the chapter! Also I'm thinking about doing a sequel, but you guys have to let me know! Oh and I realized I was spelling Stoick's name wrong, it is now fixed. :D

* * *

Despite what his father had said, Stoick was able to hold off the government taking the dragon for another week or so, probably because of his high rank. Hiccup was now home, happy to have finally left that hospital. He had discovered that he had been put into an induced coma and had been asleep for over a week in a half. They had started to bring him back up a couple of days after the surgery, but he was still asleep for whatever reason. Hiccup didn't know why and neither did the doctors, but he didn't really care anymore. He just wanted to be done with it, so the day he finally left was a welcomed one.

His leg and stump was still fairly sore, but the doctors had informed him that it would remain sore for another month or two depending on him and how fast he healed. They had also informed him about the Phantom pains that he might feel, but Hiccup had only experienced one of those episodes a few days after he had woken up and it was not a pleasant experience. Both Toothless and Astrid had been beside themselves not knowing what to do to help him. Luckily he hadn't had anything since, but he had been warned it might not remain that way.

The doctors had also informed him that he could start wearing the prosthetic as often as he wanted and that he needed to practice with it as well which helped boost his confidence some. He didn't want to be hobbling around on one foot and a stump. And he had to admit, he was getting pretty good at walking with it.

It had now been three weeks since the battle and he was still famous as ever. Due to his physical therapy getting strength in his arms and upper body, Hiccup had filled out quite nicely. He wasn't the fish bone he had been a few months before nor was he as burly as his cousin, but he was proportionate and he had to admit; it was nice seeing Astrid blush almost every time she saw him now. Hiccup had been back in his house for about three days now and everyday he had to avoid the windows because the reporters were having a frenzy. Hiccup was sure to keep Toothless away from them and he could tell the dragon didn't like the constant shouts and flashes of lights, Hiccup didn't either. Astrid complained a bit about them to when she would come over until she had the brilliant idea to turn the sprinkler system on.

All three of them had a good laugh after that and were in good spirits for the rest of the day.

It was a Tuesday evening and his father had just walked through the door tiredly taking his hat off. Stoick sat down at the couch with a flop setting his head back and closing his eyes.

"Long day?" Hiccup asked with a smirk, handing his father a beer and an ice back. After that he sat in the armchair across from him, Toothless flopping down onto the carpeted floor in between them.

"You have no idea." Stoick said tiredly, but before he could continue a knock at the back door resounded through the house. "I swear if that's another reporter on my property I'll shoot them!" Stoick snapped glaring at the back door.

Hiccup chuckled nervously, "I'm sure it's just Astrid or Gobber. They usually come through the back." Hiccup added under his breath as he got up to get the door. Walking over to the sliding glass door he moved the curtains slightly to peer at the person outside revealing it to be Astrid. Smiling he let go of the curtains and unlocked the door letting her in.

She stepped in quickly allowing him to lock the door once more smiling at him, "Thanks. It's cold out there." She added taking off her coat and putting it on one of the chairs.

"No problem." Hiccup said with a smile leading her into the living room where his father and dragon were resting. "It was just Astrid." Hiccup said to his father with a smile as Astrid took his seat in the armchair. Hiccup chose to sit on the floor leaning up against her legs.

She smiled down at him before looking at older man in the room, "Hello, sir."

Stoick smiled at her and placed the ice pack down, "Hello Astrid." He then took a drink of his beer and said, "I'm actually glad you're here."

"Oh?" Astrid asked confused, raising an eyebrow, "Why is that?"

"I've been in council with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council, the vice President and the President. So pretty much everyone who matters in making military decisions for the United States." Astrid and Hiccup blinked in surprise not really knowing what to say so Stoick went on, "They want to meet you two."

"What?" Astrid asked.

"Why?" Hiccup asked confused.

"Hiccup," Stoick said tiredly looking at his son, "You fought and defeated a military experiment aka a dragon singlehandedly on a dragon without any prior knowledge or training and lived to tell the tale." He deadpanned, "They're a little curious how." Hiccup nodded in understanding. Stoick then turned to Astrid, "You and your friends disobeyed direct orders and fought alongside Hiccup and helped him as much as you could, not to mention you seemed to know and awful lot about the creature that you shouldn't have known about." He said eyeing her. Astrid coughed into her hand uncomfortably. "We know about Fishlegs hacking into the mainframe and to be honest they're a little worried and impressed that a teenager could do it seemingly so easily." Astrid nodded as Stoick went to address the two of them, "They want to know how you were able to do any of that. So they set up a meeting with all of you."

"Do our parents know?" Astrid asked raising an eyebrow, not really like where this was going.

Stoick nodded seemingly reading her mind, "They know and have consented to let you all go." He then held up his hands in defense, "I promise it won't be anything bad, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to say anymore."

Hiccup and Astrid nodded as Hiccup asked, "When and where is this meeting supposed to happen?"

"They decided to hold it this Saturday at 11:00 am at the Capital building so that you all could still go to class." Stoick answered, "I'm to meet all of you and your parents there and bring you all too the meeting room."

"Are our parents coming too?" Astrid asked curiously.

Stoick nodded, "As long as you are all under 18, it's against the law for us to deny your parents entry to anything."

Hiccup nodded, "I guess that's true."

Stoick nodded again then stood up, "Well children if you'll excuse me, I'm going to watch the game." With that he left and went upstairs.

"What do you think the meeting will be about?" Astrid asked moving her body so that she was now sitting in the chair upside down. Her legs were in the air and her head was upside down next to Hiccup's contemplating face.

"Obviously it's going to be about the fight with the Red Death." He answered still looking thoughtful, "I imagine they'll want to debrief us properly." He looked at the ceiling seemingly thinking very hard, "Dad said it wasn't anything bad, but I wouldn't be all that surprised if I was arrested."

Astrid nearly fell out of her seat, "Why would you be arrested!? You're a freaking hero!" she snapped angry on his behalf.

"Yeah, I know." Hiccup said calmly trying to sooth her, "But I did break the law quite a few times and destroyed a lot." he added sheepishly thinking about the destroyed city.

Astrid scoffed, "If they throw you in jail for that Hiccup I'll kick every single one of their stupid asses." She growled glaring up at the ceiling. Hiccup couldn't help but laugh this earned another glare from her only this time it was directed at him, "I'm serious!" she snapped.

Hiccup chuckled and pulled her out of the chair and into his lap. All the anger faded from her as she fell into his lap heat rising to her face as she looked at him, a little surprised, not in the least bit caring, just surprised. Though she knew she shouldn't be all that surprised, Hiccup had gained quite a lot confidence since she had first met him and she had to admit, confidence looked good on him.

"I know." He said answering with a smirk. "I just think it's funny how protective you can be of me. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"

Astrid huffed crossing her arms childishly still in his lap, "Well someone has to be." She said almost whiningly.

Hiccup chuckled again, "I didn't say it was a bad thing." He said looking at her.

Astrid blushed again, "Yeah well-" She was suddenly cut off by Hiccup's lips against hers silencing her in an instant. Her eyes widened slightly as he had never done that before. She was always the one who had kissed him. Whether it had been a quick kiss on the cheek or a light peck on the lips it had always been her. But now it was him and he was kissing her far more passionately than she had ever kissed him… and it was wonderful. Closing her eyes as bliss over took her, Astrid wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him showing him just as much passion as he was showing her. After a few minutes they pulled apart smiling lovingly at each other.

"Thanks Astrid." Hiccup said softly, "For caring about me." After a second he added with a smirk, "Almost as much as I care about you."

Astrid returned the smirk, "Almost?"

Hiccup nodded, "Well I have to beat you at something, this might as well be it."

Astrid shook her head rolling her eyes before going into kiss him again. Whatever that meeting on Saturday was about she knew she could handle it with Hiccup by her side.

**..::-::..**

The days passed by with Hiccup doing his makeup homework Astrid had brought him along with his daily homework and he was happy to say that once he was ready to head back to school he would be all caught up. Finally Saturday arrived and Hiccup met his friends and their parents outside the Capital building, his father next to him. Hiccup had left Toothless in their grove that day to keep him from doing anything and to keep everyone else from doing anything to him.

The dragon had been very put out.

"Alright," Stoick said addressing the small crowd. The twin's mother had come with them, their father having to work. Both Fish's parents were here and Snotlout's father was here too. Astrid was here with her mother, her father off on a business meeting. "We're going to head inside and sign in then you'll all follow me to the meeting room." Everyone nodded at Stoick's before they headed in and quickly got their visitor badges following Stoick to the meeting room. Soon Hiccup and his friends fell behind the parents some and started talking in low tones.

"Should we be worried?" Snotlout asked looking at his cousin, "My dad didn't tell me anything." Everyone nodded their agreement with him.

Hiccup sighed as they turned a corner, "Honestly, I don't know. I don't think you should be, my dad said it was nothing bad."

"Then why didn't he tell you what it was?" Fishlegs asked nervously, "Or our parents tell us what this is all about?" Silently wondering why his hand brought a camera.

"Maybe because they're bring us here to die," Tuffnut said with an evil smirk on his face looking at Fishlegs, "And they don't want any witnesses."

Fishlegs gave a little whimper and Hiccup glared at Tuffnut, "They're not going to kill us."

"How do you know?" Tuffnut asked his nose slightly in the air, "You just said you didn't know why we're here."

"Then why did they have our parents come?" Hiccup asked, knowing the answer to his own question, but knowing it would also stump Tuffnut into shutting up.

As suspected Tuffnut opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came. With a huff he slouched even more and glared at Hiccup, "Fine. Then why do you think we're here?"

Hiccup suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, "I told you, I don't know, but I think it would be best if we stopped talking about it." He told them, "It's only making it worse."

Astrid nodded, "Hiccup's right. We should just let it go and let it be."

Ruffnut smirked at her, "You're only say that because he's your boyfriend."

Hiccup flushed slightly as Astrid glared at her, "No I'm not!" she snapped, "I'm saying it because it's true."

"Sure you are." Ruffnut said under her breath, her smirk never leaving her face.

Astrid glowered at her, but before she could say anything the group stopped in front of a room with two big white doors. Stoick turned to them all, "Alright, this is it, now please all of you understand that what is said in this room, unless they tell you otherwise is to remain in this room. You cannot speak a word of this to anyone that is not cleared first is that understood?" Everyone nodded and Stoic knocked on the doors. One of them opened to reveal a man in a soldier's uniform. "General Stoick Haddock, here on request of the staff." Stoick said standing up tall and saluting the man. The man stood tall as well and saluted him back before stepping back and opening the door a bit wider to let everyone in.

Inside the room was a long table with several people sitting at the table. Around the room were soldiers and secret service men. At the head of the table was none other than the President of the United States of America. All of the men in the room save for the secret Service men and the President himself who wore a suit, were in military uniforms and looking very important. As they all filed into the room all of them stood the President stepping forward to shake everyone's hand before the parents, following Stoick's lead, hung back against the wall while their children meet with the President.

The Commander and Chief smiled at them, "Thank you all for coming." He said with a pleasant and relaxed smile.

"Like we had much of a choice." Ruff muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

"Rebecca!" her mother hissed.

"Well it's true." Tuffnut added looking board. Their mother almost turned red with embarrassment or anger, Hiccup wasn't quite sure.

Snotlout nodded, "Yeah, I think we have a right to know why we're here?" he said looking at the President with an arrogant smirk. His father looked like he wanted to hit him, but he didn't have the chance before Fishlegs spoke up.

"That would be really nice to know, sir." Fish said somewhat respectfully. His mother and father looking like they wanted to faint.

Astrid nodded and offered a somewhat suppressed glare at the President crossing her arms, "So… start talking." She said her irritation coming through.

"Astrid!" he mother snapped horrified. None of the teens seemed to listen to their parents at all or notice the horrified faces of the men in the room.

Hiccup took that moment to turn somewhat to his friends and held up his hand in a calm down gesture. "Guys, relax." At his words his friends seemed to just that, though they didn't look happy about it. Hiccup turned to the President, "Sorry sir, but we are all very curious as to what you wish to speak to us about." The teens all nodded waiting eagerly.

The President watched the whole exchange with a calm calculating look on his face before he looked at Hiccup and smiled easily at him again. "Of course." He said addressing Hiccup's question. "But first why don't you all take a seat." He said offering everyone a chair. Once everyone was seated he went on, "Now before we continue I must say this, anything from this point on, you cannot for national security tell anyone what we discuss in this room. Is that understood by all of you?" Everyone nodded before the President went on now addressing Hiccup and his friends who were all seated next to one another. "You and your friends were brought here for several reasons. Number one is for an official debrief. So why don't we get that out of the way. Henry why don't you start." Everyone nodded and Hiccup began his story. Slowly but surely everyone told their side of the story of what happened.

When all was said and done the President went on. "Thank you for that, we just wanted to know about anything we didn't already know about." Everyone again nodded as the President went on, "Now for the second order of business." At those words The President stood and made his way to the more spacious part of the room as 6 men came forward all holding little black boxes in their hands.

"Scott Jorgenson, Please step forward." Another man wearing military clothing said holding a paper and standing near the President. Snotlout looked a little nervous but did as he was told and stood, stepping forward. The President smiled at him and stepped forward to shake his hand as the man continued to speak, "Scott Jorgenson, for courage in the face of danger and courage to fulfill what was asked of you in time of danger the United States honors you with the Presidential Citizens Medal." The room exploded into applause as the President took the black box from the soldier and handed it to a completely stunned Snotlout whose mouth was agape and could only nod his thanks before going back to his seat.

Nobody really had time to process what was going on before the Military aid continued reading the citations. "Francis Ingerman." Fishleg's eyes widened as his parents looked about ready to burst with pride before he stepped forward. "For quick thinking and computer savvy beyond your years which ultimately helped your friends. The United States honors you with the Presidential Citizens Medal." The next soldier came up and gave the President the black box which he then gave to Fishlegs after shaking his hand clapping ensuing.

"Thank you sir." Fishlegs said quietly. The President nodded with a smile.

"Tristan and Rebecca Thorston." Tuffnut and Ruffnut stepped forward and for once looked like they were taking something seriously. "For willingness to jump into danger to rescue your friends despite your own safety. The United States honors you both with the Presidential Citizens Medal." The next two soldiers walked up and handed the black boxes to the President who handed one to each twin accordingly after shaking their hands. The twins smiled at each other before nodding their thanks at the President as the clapping started again.

"Sweet." Tuffnut said as he walked back looking at the medal inside.

"For sure." His sister agreed also looking at hers as they sat down once more.

"Astrid Hofferson." The aid went on and Astrid took the necessary steps forward. "For unwavering loyalty to a friend and leader and the courage to lead when others needed you to. The United States honors you with the Presidential Citizens Medal." The clapping began once more as another soldier walked over and gave the black box to the President who hand it to her and shook her hand.

Astrid smiled at him and took the box, "Thank you." She said and the President nodded before she walked back over to Hiccup looking at her medal and taking a seat next to him. She then looked at him with a smile that made him smile at her. Hiccup was beyond happy for his friends that they were being recognized for the courage they showed. He couldn't have been prouder of them.

"Henry Haddock." Hiccup's head whipped around to look at the Military Aid and President in confusion. The President smiled seemingly understanding his confusion as the Military Aid continued, "Please step forward." Somewhat numb with shock Hiccup did as requested. The Military Aid then went on, "Though you did not need to and you had no obligation, you risked your life for those who could not defend themselves. You showed bravery, ingenuity, conviction, strength and above all heroism in defeating the dragon. For his outstanding courage and sacrifice for the greater good the United States as well as the world The United States honors Henry Haddock in presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom." The clapping roared to life far louder than before, but Hiccup was more shocked than anything. The Presidential Medal of Freedom was the highest honor a citizen could get and he had no idea _he_ would qualify let alone actually _get_ the prestigious award.

The sixth and final soldier walked over and presented a box to the President who in turn opened it and pulled out a blue ribbon necklace and gold medal. The President then walked around Hiccup and placed it around his neck. After that he turned him around again and shook his hand. "We felt you deserved the highest we could give you." The man said with a smile.

Hiccup grabbed the medal hanging around his neck and looked at it for a moment before looking up at the President with a smile. "Thank you sir." He said happily.

"No Henry," The President said bowing his head ever so slightly, "Thank you." Hiccup nodded at him before walking back to his friends and taking his seat, not at all missing the proud smile his father wore. After the clapping wore down some the President took his seat again and smiled at them all, "I'm glad we were able to honor you all with these awards which you so rightly deserved, and please allow me to say that yes you can tell your friends and family about this, but this is the only part of this meeting that can leave this room, is that understood?" Everyone nodded so he went on. "Henry," he said looking directly at Hiccup, "It is come to my attention that you and your father are unwilling to relinquish the surviving dragon, experiment NF01. Is that correct?"

Hiccup inhaled sharply, he knew this was coming and had been preparing himself for it, but it still came as a shock to hear them talk about it out loud.

Finally Hiccup nodded, "I am unwillingly, yes. My father has just been doing it to pacify me." He answered. The President nodded and looked like he was going to speak again, but Hiccup wasn't done. "If I may say something, sir?" The President looked a little surprised but nodded anyway. "The dragon has a name and his name is Toothless." He said somewhat forcefully earning a couple of shocked looks from the men around the table. "He's not an experiment. He's a living animal that deserves his freedom. And frankly I'm appalled and disgusted that he was ever subjected to things like that." Hiccup glared slightly at everyone in the room, "He can never fly on his own. He's crippled for life because of what you did."

The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop, but once again the President seemed unfazed. "You're angry." He commented, Hiccup wisely choosing to stay silent. "To be honest with you, I'm glad to hear that you are." He said confusing everyone.

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked looking at him confused.

"It makes this all the easier to explain." The President said before continuing. "When NF… Toothless," he said with a smile at Hiccup, "Was in our care his health started to deteriorate until he was all but dying." Hiccup's eyes widened as he heard Astrid gasp softly. "We tried everything we could to try and get him to eat or help him improve, but nothing worked. However," he said eyeing Hiccup with a smirk, "Toothless seems to be thriving in your care. He is surviving and is seemingly happy with you, which is why I pose the proposition to have him stay with you." Hiccup inhaled sharply again, it couldn't be this easy could it? "We will give you funding so you can take care of Toothless at your home or wherever you keep him, for food, shelter, vet bills, or equipment needed." He added thinking about the tail the boy had built for the dragon. Yet another thing the President was so impressed about.

"What's the catch?" Hiccup asked not believing that it was this easy.

The President smirked, "You and your friends join a special opts team that we have created strictly for you." He answered. At Hiccup's confused face he added, "You and your friends operated as team without any prior training in any field and for some so young that is very impressive. Each of you carry unique abilities that will help us in the long run, but we need to train you more. You're still in high school and need to graduate, but after high school we are prepared to offer each of you a full military scholarship regardless of whether you choose to join this new team or not. If you do you will be taught by the finest instructors and will learn how to operate as a real military unit." The President smiled at them, "I will not make you join, but I can say that I really hope you do. We could use minds like yours."

Hiccup looked around at his friends after the President's little speech. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were smirking at each other clearly thinking about all the trouble they could get into, Snotlout seemed to be thinking evil thoughts as well. Fishlegs was nearly bursting with excitement at the prospect of everything he could learn and Astrid was smiling at him excitement filling her beautiful face. One thing seemed to be clear to Hiccup so he turned to the President a smirk on his face as he held out his hand and shook the President's hand.

"Looks like we're in."


End file.
